BRUSSELS — European trade ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday, following U.S. President Trump’s surprise announcement of 30% tariffs on the European Union.
The EU is America’s biggest business partner and the world’s largest trading bloc. The U.S. decision will have repercussions for governments, companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.
“We shouldn’t impose countermeasures at this stage, but we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools in the toolbox,” said Denmark’s foreign minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told reporters ahead of the meeting. “So we want a deal, but there’s an old saying: ’If you want peace, you have to prepare for war.’”
The tariffs, also imposed on Mexico, are set to start on Aug. 1 and could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the U.S., and destabilize economies from Portugal to