What we could now call war of the duties between the European Union and the United States, inflame the public debate. Brussels has a new package of countermeasures: a draft duties between 10% and 25% on dozens of products imported from United States.
This is the European response to the latest American rates decided by the Trump administration, judged a serious obstacle for the world economy. The president of the Ursula von der Leyen Commission has in fact defined the new US duties “A serious blow to the world economy”warning that the EU is ready to defend its interests with countermeasures adequate if the negotiations with Washington should fail.
What is the draft of the EU counter -sections
According to the draft prepared by the European Commission, the EU would adopt duties of 10-25% on a large list of goods Made in the USA. Most of the rates would be 25%, while for different categories they would limit themselves to 10%. The plan includes a first application a mid -April 2025 And a second tranche in May.
In particular, if the document is approved by the Technical Committee of the 27 (the vote fixed the April 9th), the first counterdasi would come into force from April 15thwith a second wave ready for the May 15th If Washington does not arrive relaxing signs.
The list of products affected by EU-USA 2025 duties He is full -bodied and points straight on US goods. The commercial reprisal of Europe aims to hit some Made in the USA icons: for example motorcycles Harley-Davidson (above 500cc) and jeans Levi’s They appear in the list of products subject to duties up to 25%, a counter -move designed to respond to the duties on steel and aluminum introduced in March. In addition to these symbols, numerous other consumer goods will be affected: in the first tranche American luxury yachts, cotton shirts, the peanut butterThe orange juicechewing tobacco and sweet corn.
The Brussels strategy against the US duties therefore combines industrial and agricultural products, many of which come from politically sensitive American states, in an attempt to maximize pressure on Washington. According to EU sources, the goal is to hit assets for a value up to 26 billion euros overall, while protecting the most vulnerable European sectors.
Some strategic European food products have been excluded (such as natural gas, oil and drugs) and that Energy and pharmaceutical resources American do not fall into the measures, given the strong European dependence in those sectors.
Excise hypothesis on Big Tech USA
In addition to traditional duties on physical goods, Europe evaluates Alternative countermeasures who come out of the track of the classic commercial war. One of the most discussed hypotheses is the introduction of New “digital” excise duties To tax the American technological giants, the so -called Big tech Like Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Meta and X (Twitter).
In practice it would be a taxation on “digital value” generated in each country, on the model of an excise duty: a mechanism compared to the draw of mining or fuels, however applied to digital services. The idea is not entirely new: for years we have been talking about one Web tax European, and some countries (Italy, France, United Kingdom) have already introduced Taxes on digital services nationally. However, global negotiations in OECD for a shared solution are at a critical point.
Hit the giants of the web is seen by some as a way to rebalance a commercial exchange where the US boasts surplus in the services. However, not everyone agrees on this line: countries like theIreland (where many big techs are European) they brake on the hypothesis of inserting digital services in the viewfinder, calling it “not the official position of the Union” and rather hoping for a negotiating solution.
Brussels could also resort to other tools non -tariff provided for by the new anti-coercion regulation: for example limiting the access of US companies to EU public contracts or European financial and technological markets.
Because the bourbon is excluded from all this
In the list of new EU duties surprises the absence of some peak American products, first of all the famous Bourbon Whiskey of the Kentucky. The draft of Brussels has in fact The customs codes of whiskey, spirits and wine are exceededin addition to those of dairy products such as milk, butter, yogurt and cheeses.
This choice is far from random and responds to the desire to avoid a disastrous escalation in the quality agri -food sector. European sources reveal that it is a compromise designed for avoid even heavier retaliation: President Trump had threatened to raise up to 200% The duties on the most precious liqueurs and other excellence of the old continent (such as wine, champagne, cheeses) if the EU had hit the American bourbon.
To defuse this threat, Italy, France and Ireland They put pressure inside the EU so that the alcohol were removed from the list, thus protecting key exports such as Prosecco, Champagne and Irish whiskey from the spiral of crossed retaliation.
