The European Union (EU) paused retaliatory tariffs targeting goods coming from the United States, in the hope of buying some goodwill for a deal to permanently suspend the steep levies Donald Trump has put on transatlantic trade.
There was a cautious welcome for Mr Trump’s about-turn, to lower across-the-board tariffs to 10 per cent for 90-days, on all states but China.
In response, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the EU would suspend a package of counter-tariffs it had only approved the day before.
The EU’s tariffs of up to 25 per cent on US soybeans, oranges, steel and other products had been due to take effect in three phases on April 15th, May 15th and December 1st.
In a statement on Thursday, Dr von der Leyen said the import duties on US goods would be paused for 90 days. “We took note of the announcement by president Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance,” she said.
“While finalising the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our member states, we will put them on hold for 90 days,” the centre right German politician said.
The commission president said if negotiations between the EU and US were “not satisfactory”, the retaliatory tariffs would be introduced.
Work that had been under way to draw up a much broader package of EU “countermeasures”, will continue in the background.
The commission, which is the executive arm of the EU that sets trade policy, has insisted all options remain on the table in the trade dispute. That would include proposals to use emergency powers to curtail the operation of US tech multinationals in Europe.
Panic in the bond markets caused Mr Trump to scale back his hugely disruptive tariff plan. The US president said the 90 day pause on his so-called “reciprocal” tariff rates above 10 per cent would allow the US to cut favourable trade deals with many partners.
Previous 25 per cent tariffs put on imports into the US of steel, aluminium, automobiles and car parts are still in place. It remains to be seen whether Mr Trump will push on with plans to introduce global tariffs on pharmaceutical imports in an attempt to force companies to move manufacturing capacity in states such as Ireland back to the US.
Pharma was one of the few sectors that had not been included in Mr Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs of 20 per cent announced on imports from the EU.
A commission spokesman said the EU had “pressed the pause button” on its counter-tariffs, to give negotiations with the US administration a better chance of succeeding.
Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 states were briefed about the planned pause on Thursday morning.
The commission is expected to give a further push to a previous proposal, which would see both the EU and US reduce pre-existing tariffs on the trade of industrial goods to zero. This would get rid of long standing duties of 10 per cent charged to sell cars from the US into EU states, that predate Mr Trump’s second term.
Asked about what would happen at the end of the EU’s 90-day pause, a commission spokesman said it was far too early to say. “I’m more worried about what might happen in 90 minutes,” he said.
Stéphane Séjourné, EU commissioner for industrial policy, held a round-table with European business associations in Brussels to gauge their reaction to US tariffs. In a post on X afterwards, the French politician said the “only certainty is that instability will remain for the next four years”.
