The awareness is falling: for the EU, import duties are a pressure agent, for Team Trump a goal in itself

As far as Donald Trump presents his taxes to the world, the reluctance of European politicians who have to formulate a counter -reaction is that great. But it is no different, said the European Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic, Monday: the EU will hit back with its own taxes. First a few, then more and more. « Our answer will be gradual, » said Sefcovic.

The first relatives from the package will be announced on Wednesday and will have to start next Tuesday. Then the EU will come with targeted pin pricks as a retribution for the higher rates on steel and aluminum, which Trump announced in February. The provisional EU list includes bourbon, speedboats and jeans-although lobbying is lobby until the last minute to spare products by countries and producers who fear a next American wave of levies on specific sectors.

But those pin pricks are no longer sufficient, so the feeling was with most trading ministers who looked at Luxembourg from all over the EU on Monday to deal with Sefcovic about the trade war-in-making. After all, since February, taxes on the car industry (25 percent) and almost all other EU goods (20 percent) have been added from Washington.

These « supposedly reciprocal charges, » as the European Commissioner called them sarcastically after the meeting, « forcing extra steps. » The first relatives affect goods with a value of around 20 billion euros, comparable to the size of the first US taxes. If the EU wants to reward the new taxes, the block will have to hit around 380 billion euros in goods.

The US does not see these taxes as a negotiating tactics, but as a price correction

Sefcovic and his colleagues from the Von der Leyen committee know: This will be a job of the long breath. Europeans use their levies as a pressure means, intended to repent Trumps government. But Trump seems to be determined to continue the taxes and to shake up world trade. That makes talking difficult, the European Commissioner acknowledged: « The US does not see these taxes as a negotiating tactics, but as a price correction. »

Hard approach

The EU Trump can partly meet by scraping a number of taxes that have been raised by the block for decades. Sefcovic sees that and has even proposed to jointly reduce all taxes on cars and other industrial goods to zero, he unveiled in the Luxembourg press hall.

The EU currently has an import duties of 10 percent on American passenger cars, compared to an American levy on European cars of 2.5 percent. For entered pick-up trucks, the US has been using a rate of 25 percent for many years. This kind of taxes should all expire as far as the committee is concerned.

The offer is, the US had not responded to it. The news therefore seemed primarily intended to present Europeans as the reconciling negotiators. « The EU is always willing to a good deal, » said committee chairman Ursula von der Leyen on Monday afternoon about the offer made. She did not mention that the committee was close to a similar deal with the US in the negotiations on a transatlantic free trade agreement (TTIP)-until Trump put a line through the conversations in his first term as president.

Hard to negotiate

However, the EU board feels strong. This week the EU countries will still vote on the relatives that should take effect next week. But only if a vast majority votes against, does the package not take place – otherwise the committee can take its course.

Trade is, very different from, for example, Defense, one of the sites where the committee has a natural mandate. It is also one of the areas in which the officials in the Brussels office colosses are pre -eminently specialized. And since the committee showed that it was able to negotiate hard with the United Kingdom on the conditions of the Brexit, the Member States know that the EU can be extremely effective if the countries support the committee.

A number of countries are bang on the chosen route. Germany and France believe that the EU can occur harder, the Italian government argues for more understanding of Trump. Von der Leyen will not want to buy either of the big countries, but she does not have to beg with them for support. And she knows that.

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