French trade minister flags defensive trade tools for Trump presidency

By Peggy Corlin & video by Aïda Sanchez

New commercialized defence measures are acceptable for usage should Europe's relations with the US deteriorate pursuing Donald Trump's instrumentality to the White House, France's commercialized curate said earlier a gathering of EU commercialized ministers successful Brussels.

 “We don’t privation to escalate to commercialized war, nevertheless Europe indispensable besides beryllium acceptable to amusement its spot and usage its caller tools of protection,” said French commercialized curate Sophie Primas connected accomplishment astatine the meeting.

The gathering was the archetypal specified commercialized treatment among ministers since president-elect Trump won the US predetermination connected a level which included threats to slap 20% tariffs connected each goods arriving from the EU to the US.

One specified caller commercialized measurement successful the EU armoury, according to an authoritative of the European Union Council, is the anti-coercion regularisation adopted successful 2023 to support the EU from duress from 3rd countries.

If dialog with the Trump medication fails, the regularisation includes tariffs, quotas, licence, restrictions connected the close to enactment successful nationalist procurement tender procedures, measures reducing entree by overseas investors to the EU oregon entree by banking and security entities to EU superior markets.

“The European Commission received a wide mandate from the ministers to prosecute with the caller US medication connected a affirmative agenda, portion being prepared to flank this affirmative docket with factual countermeasures acceptable to usage if and erstwhile necessary,” an EU diplomat told Euronews aft the meeting.

During his archetypal mandate, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% connected alloy and 10% connected aluminium, portion the EU retaliated with targeted tariffs connected US goods including Harley Davidson motorcycles and Bourbon whisky.

In October 2021, Brussels and the Biden medication agreed  to resoluteness the quality implicit aluminium and steel, and astatine the extremity of past twelvemonth they extended the truce for a further 15 months, preventing tariffs connected trans-Atlantic commercialized worthy billions of euros from kicking successful automatically connected January 1. But that tariff suspension woody is lone acceptable to past until soon aft the adjacent US medication takes office.