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London (CNN) — The European Union has announced it will impose retaliatory tariffs on American toilet paper, soybeans, eye makeup and hundreds of other products if trade negotiations with the United States aren’t successful.
The bloc of 27 countries published Monday a long list of US products, most of which will be subject to additional customs duties of 25% absent an agreement with the US.
The tit-for-tat is part of a wider trade war triggered by US President Donald Trump’s hefty tariffs on dozens of trading partners, which threaten to plunge the American and other economies into recession.
The EU suspended its initial countermeasures for 90 days after Trump similarly delayed his so-called reciprocal tariffs, unveiled earlier this month. The EU levies had been planned to go into effect Tuesday in retaliation for 25% US tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum.
“The European Union has paused its countermeasures on unjustified US trade tariffs to allow time and space for EU-US negotiations,” the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement Monday. “Should talks not prove satisfactory, the EU countermeasures will kick in.”
Some 400 US products on the EU list could face higher tariffs from mid-July. Another 1,300 items or so could be hit with steep import taxes at the same time or at a later stage.
The EU list mostly, though not completely, spares the biggest US exports to the bloc. According to EU calculations based on official US data for 2023, the top five goods exports from America to Europe are oil and gas, pharmaceuticals and medicines, aerospace products and parts, medical equipment and supplies, and motor vehicles, while soybeans are America’s biggest agricultural export to the region. Motorcycles and soybeans appear on the EU’s list, both threatened with a 25% tariff.
Other significant agricultural exports from the US to Europe that face EU retaliation include tree nuts, such as almonds, and fresh fruits.
Further blows from Europe may be on the cards.
In addition to the higher tariffs on steel and aluminum, US President Donald Trump has hit the EU with 25% levies on cars and car parts and 20% “reciprocal” tariffs on all other goods from the bloc, although the latter have been reduced to 10% for 90 days. The region is still formulating its response to the auto and “reciprocal” tariffs.
French minister Francois Bayrou said Tuesday that America’s trading partners were being forced to take retaliatory measures “that are themselves dangerous.”
“The president of the United States has unleashed a hurricane – whose consequences will not disappear anytime soon – by firing the starting gun on a global trade war without warning overnight, imposing unimaginable customs duties,” he said.
Pierre Bairin in Paris contributed reporting.
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