The European Union has postponed its first countermeasures against the United States, which were aimed at alcohol, in response to tariffs on metals imposed by the US President Donald Trump.
Reuters writes about this.
The European Commission first proposed to reinstate tariffs on €4.5 billion worth of US goods from 2018 on April 1, and on April 13 to impose additional duties on €18 billion.
The EC later confirmed that all EU countermeasures would come into effect in mid-April. The delay in introducing countermeasures could allow for some adjustments to be made to US goods that are subject to sanctions.
The first set of countermeasures involves a 50% tariff on American bourbon. Trump has threatened to impose a 200% tariff on all wines and other spirits from the EU if the bloc goes ahead with it.
The Trump administration is also planning "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2 to "restore balance to the global trading system".
- Immediately after taking office, the US President Donald Trump announced his intention to impose tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China, accusing these countries of facilitating drug smuggling into the US. Trump then imposed tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports, including hundreds of products made from the metal.
- China responded with mirror tariffs on March 4, and Mexico and Canada promised to respond the same day.
- On March 12, the EU informed about tariffs on metals, whiskey and products from the US. On the same day, Canada imposed new tariffs on American goods.
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