EU threatens tariffs on aircraft, car parts if US trade talks fail
BRUSSELS — The European Union threatened Thursday to impose tariffs on U.S. aircraft, car parts and other products if talks with Washington break down, as the bloc attempts to coax the Trump administration toward a trade deal. Weeks of negotiations between European and American officials have failed to yield a breakthrough.
The European Commission, the E.U.’s executive branch, unveiled a list of U.S. products it could target with tariffs, totaling more than $100 billion. They would not take effect immediately, and the list of industrial and agricultural goods, including vegetables and machinery, could change after a monthlong consultation with the bloc’s 27 member states.
The threatened tariffs would be in retaliation for levies imposed by President Donald Trump, including a blanket 20% tariff that the United States announced and then paused, as well as tariffs on cars, which remain in effect.
The E.U. has raced to take advantage of the 90-day pause, hoping that threats of retaliation coupled with potential concessions can prod the Trump team to make a deal. Among the overtures, E.U. officials have offered to increase imports of U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG), proposed “zero-for-zero” tariffs on cars and industrial goods, and suggested cooperation on artificial intelligence.
“We believe there are good deals to be made for the benefit of consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “At the same time, we continue preparing for all possibilities.”
An E.U. official said that ongoing “negotiations are still our priority” but that the bloc seeks to keep “countermeasures in our back pocket.”
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, said U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing could be affected if the measures are implemented.
The E.U. proposal does not include measures to target services from American big tech companies, a move that some European countries have pressed the bloc to consider. The official said targeting services “remains an option” if talks with the Trump administration devolve in the future.
Thursday’s target list also includes American bourbon, a flash point in trade tensions with Trump. Bourbon had been spared from a previously planned E.U. retaliation.
Last month, the E.U. postponed separate tariffs on more than $23 billion worth of U.S. products. Those levies were in retaliation for U.S. steel tariffs.
Trump’s pause, which is set to end in mid-July, gave the E.U. a little breathing room as it pursues a relatively restrained strategy to avoid an escalation with the United States, its largest export market for goods. A top commission trade official led a delegation of experts to Washington for talks on Tuesday and Wednesday.
E.U. Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic warned earlier this week that “more U.S. tariff actions could well be on their way,” pending U.S. decisions on whether to impose levies on imports of lumber, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors. Potentially 97% of E.U. exports to the United States could be subject to tariffs, he said.
“We do not feel under undue pressure to accept a deal which would not be fair for us,” Sefcovic told the European Parliament on Tuesday, adding that the negotiations were “not easy.”
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• Beatriz Ríos contributed.