The EU is dying on the use of its “bazooka” trade to retaliate on the mega price of Trump – Politico

The final list of countermeasures prepared by the Commission to respond to Trump and Aluminum Trump prices, which has entered into force on March 12, will not fully correspond to their estimated impact of 26 billion euros on EU exports, said the trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič after the talks. It is less than expected after the EU countries have put pressure on it to delete articles – such as Kentucky Bourbon – from the original hit list.

Enough it is quite

Countries like France, Germany and Spain have led calls to the block not to withdraw any options from the table to treat the American president.

“We must also examine closely (the anti-coercion instrument),” said German Minister of Economy, Robert Habeck, on the meeting on Monday. “These are measures that go far beyond customs policy. They have a wide palette. They then include digital services, but have a wide range of instruments, much more than via a digital tax. ”

His Spanish counterpart Carlos Cuerpo accepted.

“The anti-coercion instrument is there so that we used it in case we judge it necessary. But again, the message that the EU should take today is positive,” Cuerpo told Politico in an interview. “We must explore the use of all the instruments that are available to us. That’s sure. We must not exclude anything. ”

A senior EU diplomat aware of the meeting told Politico that when Šefčovič, the head of the EU, has taken a straw survey on the tools that Brussels should use, only a handful of EU ministers have requested that all the options be put on the table – including Bazooka trade.