TIT-FOR-TAT PROPOSED EU TARIFFS LIST ON U.S. GOODS

The European Union is preparing punitive tariffs on iconic U.S. brands. Targeting 2.8 billion euros of American goods, the EU aims to apply a 25 percent tit-for-tat levy on a range of consumer, agricultural and steel products imported from the U.S. The list of targeted U.S. goods includes motorcycles (Harley-Davidson) jeans (Levi Strauss) and bourbon whiskey.

The European retaliatory list targets imports from the U.S. of

1. shirts, jeans, cosmetics, other consumer goods, motorbikes and pleasure boats worth around 1 billion euros;
2. orange juice, bourbon whiskey, corn and other agricultural products totaling 951 million euros; and
3. steel and other industrial products valued at 854 million euros.

Europe may expand the group of targeted American goods should Trump also follow through on a related pledge to impose a 10 percent duty on foreign aluminum.

The European Commission is also weighing filing a complaint to the WTO against the U.S. and introducing “safeguard” measures to prevent steel shipments from other parts of the world to America from being diverted to the European market and flooding it.

The tariffs included in draft list discussed on Monday can be imposed without waiting for WTO dispute-settlement procedures. They are retaliatory measures worth 50 percent of the EU’s exports of steel which will be hurt by Trump’s plan, and hence can be imposed immediately, according to the Commission.