As before, lowering duties on imported cars and the zero-for-zero mutual offer on industrial goods have not been taken off the table. Cooperating on China’s trade barriers and overproduction is another area where Brussels sees space for cooperation with Washington.
However, EU diplomats caution that any offer will be tightly constrained by internal divisions among member countries, some of whom are reluctant to be seen as yielding to U.S. pressure and others careful not to alienate one of the EU’s historical allies.
The briefing of European ambassadors was held in a restricted setting by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s most senior aide, Björn Seibert, and the Commission’s top trade official, Sabine Weyand, two EU diplomats said. The meeting is a crucial step for the Commission to keep the EU’s 27 countries on board while it navigates the 90 day pause that Trump announced on some U.S. tariffs. The EU’s response is also suspended, provisionally, until July 14.
The European Commission declined to comment on the measures.
Pushing for more
Alongside the offers, the bloc is still working on a response to the 25 percent tariffs on cars and the 10 percent tariff still applied to EU goods.
Despite prior expectation that Brussels would hit Washington in the domain of services, such as Big Tech or Wall Street, the Commission chose to stick with a more classic retaliation on goods in a bid not to escalate trade tensions with the Trump administration.
