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The EU is considering exporting Hit US services to retaliate for imposing a 25% tariff on the automotive industry and pledging further action next week on US services exports, including Big Tech’s operations.
Brussels has announced an additional mission for US goods already of 26 billion euros after Washington imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. However, European officials and diplomats said the scale of action by the Trump administration called for consideration to use more powerful trade tools.
The Bullock has broad authority to suspend intellectual property rights and exclude businesses from public procurement contracts under its enforcement regulations.
“Americans think they are people who have an escalation advantage. [in the trade war]One EU diplomat added that the aim was to ultimately escalate in a comprehensive trade agreement.
Fightbacks may include intellectual property restrictions for large tech companies. Another example is to prohibit Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellite Network from winning government contracts. Italy is already rethinking whether to acquire the system.
“Service is a place where the United States is vulnerable,” the second diplomat said. Washington operated a trade surplus of 100 billion euros with the EU in service in 2023, but was in a 157 billion euros deficit.
EU officials believe the Trump administration is only willing to negotiate after the US has built a tariff barrier that demonstrates its seriousness in securing better terms from trading partners allegedly using the open market.
European officials hope to see rapid progress in the final agreement, but even this acknowledges that it will not remove all additional tariffs imposed by Trump.
“The view is that we have to respond, and that’s the only way to get a deal,” the third EU diplomat said. “We tried to talk.”
As EU exports far outweigh imports, the bloc will have a hard time matching our tariffs on goods. Brussels also does not want to stop gas supply from the US to the continent.
“There are so many imports of goods from the US that the EU can target them before they damage the economy,” said David Hennig, think tank at the European Centre for International Political and Economics. “If you don’t want to target energy, there are limits to what you can do with products. On the other hand, services offer greater room for retaliation without causing too much harm to the economy.”
Some experts say that in order to inflict even more economic pain in the US, the European Commission must use anti-course devices (ACIs), known as “trade bazookas.”
This tool can prevent companies that restrict the activity of US banks, revoke patents, and receive revenue from software updates and streaming.
“I encourage the European Commission to use ACIs,” said Ignacio García Berrero, a former senior committee member who led the negotiations on the US EU trade agreement, a transatlantic trade and investment partnership concluded without a contract.
Retaliation measures taken by the EU will be created by the Commission, but must be approved by the majority of member states’ aggravation.
EU countries are still negotiating a list of merchandise retaliation created in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. France is asking for bourbon whiskey to be removed to avoid fallout in its own drink industry.
The committee has postponed measures to cover jeans, motorcycles and possibly soybeans until April 12th. Discussions will be made with the national leader before a final agreement.
Diplomats and officials said there is a greater range of commodity tariffs in response to the US “mutual” tariffs that will be hired at the White House next week and that Brussels is expected to reach around 20%. Aircraft, chemicals and medicines could be attacked.
Additional Reports by Henry Foy of Brussels
