Ahead of the meeting with Trump, European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said that “we hope that it doesn’t come to that and that we can find a solution. If not, the EU Commission is preparing a rather long list of many American goods. It would be around $20 billion.” But the next round of EU tariffs will not target specific US states. Malmstrom said “it’s more general goods such as agricultural products, machinery, high-tech products and other things.”
According to reports, the EU originally considered tariffs on EUR 9B of US imports. But now, they’re looking at going after double that amount, but at half the tariff rate. Also, such tariffs are expected to come into effect at least after US completes its section 232 national security probe on autos. It’s expected to be completed in weeks, probably by late August/early September.
