this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2025
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Archive: https://archive.is/2025.04.09-043933/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/09/tariffs-european-union-finally-deploys-its-first-set-of-countermeasures_6739989_4.html

And so it begins. After revising their schedule twice, the 27 member states are finally expected to approve, on Wednesday, April 9, the first retaliatory measures against the tariff hikes imposed by Donald Trump's US since March 12. They are responding to the 25% surcharges decided by Washington on European steel and aluminum imports, valued at 26 billion euros per year.

The community retaliations target a wide range of American products – poultry, orange juice, rice, tobacco, soybeans, aluminum and steel, luxury yachts, motorcycles, diamonds, makeup products and clothing − but they remain slightly below the new US tariffs.

While the levy rate is also 25%, the base of the affected goods (22 billion euros per year) is, in fact, narrower. As they seek to "minimize the consequences for their economies," as reiterated by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Europeans struggle to agree on a response proportionate to the aggression they are facing. Fearing that the American president might execute his threats to tax European alcohol at "200%," France, Italy, and Ireland have thus ensured that Kentucky bourbon is exempt from Brussels' counter-offensive.

Moreover, while the US struck all at once, the European Union (EU) staggered its response. The first wave of new tariffs will take effect on April 15. A second – the most significant – will occur on May 16. The 27 have indeed been keen to respect the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which provide for consultation periods, while the US has not bothered with such subtleties.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Im just reminded of the words I drunk texted the night Trump won the election: The US will withdraw from the world. Europe will try to stand up, but fall flat on its face. WWIII is inevitable.

Way to go Brussels. A nice measured response. I'm sure history will remember how reasonable you were when they are sorting through the ashes one day.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

You think it’s going to be 1930s again but can we replay 1830s instead? Similar root causes :)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

who is fighting who in wwiii

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

No idea. Power abhors a vacuum, and there are a million different permutations that could lead us to the inevitable.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

Unpopular take, wouldn't it be better to just not retaliate? We keep saying tariffs are dumb, they just hurt your own economy, consumers will pay the price. This is economically correct. So why impose tariffs ourselves and not let the orange ape destroy himself?