The European Commission’s proposal to impose customs duties on certain products imported from the United States starting 15 April in response to US duties on steel and aluminium was given the go-ahead by Member States on Wednesday 9 April. The delegations expressed their views under the comitology procedure, and only one delegation – Hungary – voted against the proposal.
According to the approved list, the first wave of tariffs, due to come into force on 15 April, will target €3.9 billion worth of goods. The second wave, scheduled for 15 May, will be worth €13.5 billion, and the third wave will be worth €3.5 billion. By the end of the year, therefore, the EU will have imposed tariffs worth €18.9 billion in response to the aluminium tariffs.
The rates set by the Commission are 10 or 25% depending on the product. As previously reported, whisky and bourbon whisky have been removed from the list (see EUROPE 13617/2).
The Commission insists that these tariffs can be suspended at any time, “should the United States agree to a fair and balanced negotiated outcome”.
Truce on tariffs. In an early turnaround, US President Donald Trump announced a pause in his tariffs on the evening of Wednesday 9 April, citing a request from ‘more than 75 countries’ to negotiate a solution.
‘I have authorised a 90-day pause, and a greatly reduced reciprocal tariff for that period, of 10%, also effective immediately’, declared Donald Trump on the social network Truth. China is not affected by this move, he added.
The fate of the EU was unclear at the time of writing. The US President spoke of a pause and a reduced tariff for countries ‘that have not retaliated in any way against the United States’. The EU retaliated against the steel and aluminium tariffs, but not against the reciprocal tariffs announced on 2 April.
See the European Commission’s proposed regulation and its annexes, respectively: https://aeur.eu/f/gc4 and https://aeur.eu/f/gc5 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)