Von der Leide “calibrates” the response to the ‘reciprocal tariffs’ of Trump: “All instruments are on the table”

On the eve of Donald Trump to announce new measures in his resurgence of the commercial war in which he has called the ‘Day of Liberation’, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has sent the message that the EU will not be harass. In a speech in the European Parliament, the German has recognized that the ‘reciprocal tariffs’ of the United States to evaluate them and “calibrate” the answer, which will undoubtedly be. “All instruments are on the table,” said Von der Leyen.

“Europe has many letters: from commerce to technology, through the size of our market. But this force is also based on our willingness to make firm countermeasures,” said the head of the community government. Beyond responding to tariffs with rates for a proportional value, there are member states, such as France, which directly sign up for the EU anti-coercion tool. Gallic Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot claimed him on Monday in Madrid by remembering that Brussels has that instrument that allows him to “go far beyond the application of customs rights in response to customs rights.”

The EU designed that instrument after Trump’s first mandate to deal with the powers that use trade as blackmail. The anti-coercion instrument offers a wide range of measures such as retaliation, such as the increase in customs rights, import or exports restriction, the exclusion of participating in public tenders or the suspension of international obligations in sectors such as intellectual property, insurance, banking, etc.

Using that mechanism for the first time is, therefore, on the table of European capitals. “The European Commission has the necessary tools to begin to channel these negotiations and defend its industries and its companies. Here the anti-coercion instrument is part of this instrumental, of these tools that we have, I would no longer rule out the use of any instrument,” said the Minister of Economy, Carlos Body.

In any case, the EU will first wait for the measures announced by Washington before preparing its arsenal. In fact, the trade ministers have called an extraordinary meeting in Luxembourg next Monday in which this issue will be the main course of the agenda of the day. In addition, Brussels has delayed until April 12 the entry into force of the tariffs he announced in response to the 25% rate to steel and aluminum imposed by Trump. The first phase of the response, which meant reintroducing the tariffs with which the EU responds to the previous commercial war in 2018, was scheduled for this April 1, but the European Commission dilated it to give margin to the negotiation, both with Washington and internal.

The tariffs that were suspended had a value of 8,000 million euros and swelling the package to the 26,000 million that will mean the damage of the rates to aluminum and the steel requires a negotiation within the EU itself from the list that prepared the European Commission with the objective of “hitting where Trump hurts”, which is basically in symbolic and coming from the most republican states.

This negotiation has also referred to Von der Leyen, which places its priority in an agreed exit, but Trump has not yet given signs of being willing to reach an agreement. “We have strength to negotiate. We have the strength to counterattack,” said Von der Leyen in Strasbourg.

In addition to giving a “firm” response, among the strengths that the German has highlighted is the “diversification” of the EU. And it is that a good part of the efforts of the community block are to look for alliances with other countries, such as India, South Africa, Mexico, Thailand or the Mercosur states. This same week, von der Leyen and the president of the European Council, Antònio Costa, will travel to Samarkand (Uzbequistan) for the first central EU-Asian summit.

And the third pillar in which Von der Leyen places the strength of the EU is the single market, which makes the 27 one of the world’s main commercial blocks. Even so, he has reiterated the need to reinforce it to eliminate barriers, which, according to the IMF, equals a 45% tariff for the manufacturing industry and 110% for services, as the German recalled.