The European Union (EU) has announced a pause on countermeasures against the United States (U.S.) regarding import taxes into the bloc. This decision comes as a remarkable development in ongoing trade tensions.
Twenty-six EU member states—every member except Hungary—voted to impose the countermeasures just hours before President Trump declared his 90-day pause on implementing the tariffs yesterday. Under the European Commission’s plans, these retaliatory measures were set to be introduced in three phases starting on 15 April, targeting EUR3.9 billion ($4.3 billion) worth of goods that the U.S. exports to EU countries.
A month later, on 15 May, another EUR13.5 billion ($14.9 billion) of goods was scheduled to be impacted, followed by an additional EUR3.5 billion ($3.8 billion) from 1 December. These tariffs were a direct response to the 25 percent import taxes imposed by President Trump on all steel and aluminum, which came into effect in mid-March and applied to both the EU and the rest of the world.
Trump’s tariff announcement
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced a complete three-month pause on all the “reciprocal” tariffs that went into effect at midnight, with the exception of China. This marked a remarkable reversal for a president who had historically insisted that the exceptionally high tariffs were here to stay. However, significant tariffs will remain in place on China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Trump stated that these tariffs would be increased to 125 percent from 104 percent following China’s announcement of additional retaliatory tariffs against the United States earlier that same day. He noted that all other countries subjected to reciprocal tariff rates would revert to the universal 10 percent rate.
