Brussels might goal American “digital providers” if tariff talks collapse, in response to Ursula von der Leyen
The European Union is ready to impose bloc-wide tariffs on main US tech firms, akin to Meta and Google, if negotiations with Washington fail to resolve the escalating commerce dispute, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen has warned.
Following US President Donald Trump’s choice to pause additional tariff hikes for 90 days, EU exports to America will nonetheless face a “baseline” 10% import obligation as a substitute of the deliberate 20% underneath his new commerce regime. Nonetheless, the European Fee has introduced it could quickly droop its countermeasures, pending additional negotiations.
Chatting with the Monetary Instances on Thursday, von der Leyen mentioned Brussels was able to deploy its strongest commerce measures, doubtlessly focusing on American digital service suppliers and the promoting revenues of Silicon Valley giants.
READ MORE:
World tariff struggle: Key developments
“We’re creating retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen mentioned, including that these might embody the primary use of the EU’s anti-coercion mechanism to hit providers relatively than items. “There’s a variety of countermeasures… in case the negotiations aren’t passable.”
“An instance is you possibly can put a levy on the promoting revenues of digital providers,” she added, outlining a measure that will apply throughout the bloc’s total single market – on prime of digital gross sales taxes set individually by member states.
Whereas the EU stays dedicated to searching for a “fully balanced” settlement throughout Trump’s 90-day tariff freeze, von der Leyen made clear that Brussels wouldn’t hesitate to behave if talks fail. The EC can be contemplating tariffs on US scrap steel exports, in addition to protecting measures to stop Chinese language items – focused by prohibitive 145% US tariffs – from flooding European markets.
Von der Leyen has described Trump’s tariff struggle as a “turning level” for international commerce, saying there could be no return to the “established order” between the EU and the US. She claimed that Brussels had tried to barter with Washington in latest months however was informed to attend till Trump’s April 2 announcement, which imposed a 20% “reciprocal” tariff on the EU.
Whereas either side have agreed that reform of the World Commerce Group (WTO) is required, von der Leyen warned that the financial chaos unleashed by Trump’s tariffs was already inflicting heavy prices on international markets.
“There are not any winners on this, solely losers,” she mentioned. “Right this moment we see the price of chaos… the prices of the uncertainty that we’re experiencing right now might be heavy.”
Von der Leyen confirmed that the EU would pause its deliberate retaliation towards US metal and aluminum tariffs through the negotiations however burdened that Brussels wouldn’t negotiate over its “untouchable” guidelines on digital content material, market energy, and different “sovereign choices.” The bloc additionally won’t negotiate its value-added tax (VAT), which US officers – together with Trump – have lambasted as “discriminatory” towards American exporters, regardless that each imported and regionally produced items are taxed equally.
