Counter -duties of EU and China – trade dispute escalated

The EU countries have cleared their way for the first counter-tariffs between 10 and 25 percent in response to the tariffs ordered by US President Donald Trump. Among other things, special levies for jeans and motorcycles from the USA will come into force next week, as can be seen from a message from the EU Commission.

Further counter -tariffs will then follow in mid -May and end of the year – this affects food such as beef, poultry or citrus fruits such as oranges or grapefruit. At the beginning of December there are nuts and soybeans.

According to EU information, the first tariffs make a trading volume of 3.9 billion euros. On May 15, tariffs are to be charged on goods worth 13.5 billion and the third wave hits a volume of 3.5 billion.

Contrary to original plans, there are no additional tariffs on American whiskey and other alcoholic beverages. The main reason is the lobbying of countries such as France and Italy. After the EU planning with counter-tariffs from 200 percent, Trump had threatened wine, champagne and other alcoholic beverages from EU countries if the EU should implement the project.

The planned EU special tariffs are not the reaction to the so-called mutual tariffs that came into force on Wednesday morning, but to steel and aluminum imports imposed about a month ago.

According to EU information, these US measures make exports worth 26 billion euros and could theoretically give the United States additional customs revenues of around 6.5 billion euros.

Compared to the reaction from China, EU procedures are very manageable. Initially, Beijing had reacted to Trump’s announcement on the special levies that came into force on Wednesday morning with counter -tariffs of 34 percent. As a result, Washington increased the taxes to Chinese products again: to a total of 104 percent.

The government in Beijing in the same extent wants to introduce these other US tariffs of 50 percent and now increase the special tariffs, which are initially based on 34 percent, to all US imports to 84 percent. They should come into force on Thursday, said the Chinese leadership.

The trade conflict of the two largest economies in the world thus reaches another escalation level. Compared to other countries that operate with the USA, China is affected by particularly high tariffs.

The US President wants to correct alleged trade weights with tariffs and shift production to the USA. At the same time, customs income should serve to at least partially counter -financed tax cuts promised in the election campaign.

When the first counter-tariffs were announced, the EU Commission emphasized: “These countermeasures can be suspended at any time if the USA agree to a fair and balanced negotiation result.” At the beginning of the week, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said that Plan A was to focus on negotiations-a determined reaction was plan B. The aim was to negotiate, emphasized Sefcovic on Monday.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also emphasized on Monday that the European Union was ready to talks despite the pay decisions of US President Donald Trump. The offer to the USA: an agreement to lift all tariffs on industrial goods-which the Americans have already rejected. In the event of a failure of negotiations, possible countermeasures would be prepared, according to the Leyen.

China’s reaction to the additional US tariffs briefly caused new pressure on the DAX. The already very weak leading index slipped to a daily low of around 19,400 points and was more than four percent in the red. The DAX had found his daily high in the morning just over 20,000 points, but then sank under this brand. In the afternoon, the course recovered something.

Another large package of measures for the customs of Trump recently announced by Trump on cars and almost all other EU exports to the USA is still being worked on.

According to the EU calculations, the total additional income from the United States would amount to EU goods on EU goods to EU goods to 81 billion euros in the event of a constant trading volume.

It is not the first time for the EU that she responds to US tariffs. This had already been the case in the first term in Trump when this special tariff had introduced steel and aluminum. However, the measures were then suspended after an agreement with the US President Joe Biden, who ruled from 2021 to 2025.