EU approves tariffs on US goods

The European Union has officially imposed import duties on US goods worth a total of about 21 billion euros.

It is noted that this was a response to the decision of US President Donald Trump, who in March imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum from the EU, arguing for national security reasons.

On Wednesday, most EU member states voted in favor of the corresponding sanctions. The first wave of tariffs will take effect on April 15, the second in mid-May, and the third on December 1, 2025.

The new tariffs will cover goods from politically important regions of the US, including:

• soybeans from Louisiana (the home state of House Speaker Mike Johnson),
• diamonds,
• agricultural products,
• poultry meat,
• Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

Most goods will be subject to a 25% tariff, some – 10%. Notably, bourbon was removed from the list after Trump threatened to impose a 200% tariff on wine and other spirits from France.

The European Commission has said that these countermeasures could be lifted if the US agrees to a “fair and balanced settlement”. However, no progress has been made in the negotiations so far, as the Trump team does not yet have a clear mandate for dialogue.

The EU is also preparing a package of additional measures in response to the US “mirror tariffs”, which it plans to present next week.

The new US measures already cover around 380 billion euros in EU goods, including cars, chips, medicines and wood. Analysts fear that the trade war could wipe out the eurozone’s expected economic growth in 2025.

According to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the EU has “enough leverage,” including an anti-coercive instrument that can be used to protect against economic pressure from the United States.

Tags: EU, USA