The European Union reacted to the threats of Trump. A spokesman for the European Commission has declared that the new increase in the duties on steel and aluminum by the USA, which would pass from 25% to 50%, undermines negotiations on the so -called mutual customs rates. If the United States does not change the line, the negotiations could jump before July.
Trump suddenly took on a hostile attitude on the duties, not only towards the EU. China has also been threatened, despite the recent agreement in favor of Beijing. The change of line began after the president of the US has discovered an acronym coined to describe his “strategy” of negotiation: Taco, Trump Always Chickens Out (Trump always runs away).
The EU reaction to the new Trump duties
Donald Trump’s line change on duties, with the new increase in those on steel and aluminum, seems to have also dictated a change in the European Union attitude in negotiations. Until now, the EU had tried to meet Trump’s requests, to appease the President of the United States and at the same time reassure the markets, very susceptible to threats of customs rates, increasingly frequent.
A strategy that seemed to work, crowned by the recent phone call between Trump and the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Suddenly though, A new shockperhaps this time definitive, to commercial relations between the European Union and the United States.
Negotiations are at risk
The European Commission spokesman was clear: “The European Union profoundly deplorates the new duties by Donald Trump on steel and aluminum, which undermine the current efforts to achieve a negotiated solution with the USA “. The negotiations can therefore jump, immediately, without even waiting for the date set by Trump for the new entry into force of the” mutual “duties on July 14.
The duties on which the EU was dealing, in fact, did not concern steel and aluminum. It was the package of Universal customs rates20%, announced and withdrawn by Trump in 14 hours at the beginning of April. A measure against which the EU has already prepared an answer.
Two packages of targeted counterready to enter into force even immediately, if Trump does not withdraw his threats. But above all a clear threat from the Commission: “All the options are on the table”.
The reference is to the sanctions against American technological companies. For Meta, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and Amazonthe EU is an essential market and the tax policies of some states are crucial for the functioning of their international branches.
The Taco effect
Trump’s announcement comes a few days after the discovery, by the President of the United States, of the acronym coined for his strategy by the journalist of the Financial Times Robert Armstrong: Taco, Trump Allways Chickens Out. Often translated into Italian with “Trump always pulls back”, he has a different shade in English. The term “chickens out“, Literally” makes chicken “, it expresses an escape for fear or cowardice.
The acronym refers to the fact that, in the first months of its presidency, Trump has continually announced or imposed disproportionate bosses, and then withdraws his threats and resize the customs rates, or make them disappear completely. It happened first with Mexico and Canada, then with the so -called mutual duties, then with China and, a few days ago, also with the EU itself. Trump had threatened an increase in mutual duties from 20% to 50% and had said he was “not interested in the negotiation”, and then withdraws any threat in less than 24 hours.
