Donald Trump has followed the hard line. With an executive order and the usual show in the garden, he announced Dice at 20% that affect the European Union. Brussels did not have time to swallow that already prepares the counterattack. Ursula von der Leyen immediately replied by putting in line the words like blows and denouncing the moves of the US President as extremely harmful. And reiterated that Europe will respond In tone, in turn taxed the American goods in Europe. The recourse is estimated that it will cost 28 billion to the overseas part.
The markets slide, the companies tremble and the new Trumpian arrithmetics, where the numbers do not count, also appears: it is enough to divide the deficits and call them duties. To back the plan, the usual: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, this time enrolled in the protectionist countryside with embarrassing enthusiasm. Donald Trump spoke of mutual measuresonly to specify that the calculations have been softened.
Von der leyen against the duties: “damage for the global economy”
Ursula von der Leyen wasted no time. At the burst of rates that started from Washington he replied with a clear declaration and a roadmap. The American duties, he said, are a ballast for the global economy and will have repercussions on a planetary scale. In Brussels the countermeasures construction site is already open: it starts fromsteelbut the list is destined to grow if the dialogue does not take off.
During his speech, Ursula von der Leyen photographed a frayed international scene, where commercial relations seem more like a survival exercise than a strategy.
Recalled that for years the exchange between Europe and the United States has guaranteed employment and convenience for consumersbut that now the approach chosen by Washington risks transforming trade into one chain of retaliation. Opening a comparison on the rules is fine, he said essentially, but using duties as a universal grimaldello only serves to complicate a system already under pressure.
Von der Leyen reminded European governments that, net of differences, when needed It is played in the team. The union, he said, has the tools to face the recourse. The line is twofold: ready for comparison but equally ready to return a hit on blow if the table jumps.
EU countermeasures in April: rates out of 28 billion US goods
In Brussels you don’t waste time: the countermeasures are already black on white, ready to enter into force If diplomacy with Washington proves to be sterile. The package is full -bodied, and goes from the aluminated steel to the appliances, passing through alcohol, food and leather artifacts.
The list is long, the salty account: 28 billion dollars of American exports ended up in the viewfinder. Some of these duties had been suspended at the time of the first Trump, now they return with interest. The calendar is already set: the community counter -forest will start on April 15th.
How the EU counterdations work
Sources of Brussels have specified that the decision will take place in comedologythat is, a special procedure in the EU which provides for a vote by Member States that will take place April 9th. Only after the vote, which must be by qualified majority, will the first counter -forest scheduled be triggered for April 15.
These first countermeasures will be followed by one second tranche Exactly a month later, May 15th. “We were ready on March 12thwe are ready now. There is still some consultation in progress and then we will proceed “, they reiterated the same sources, specifying that“ the retaliation It will reflect “the indications received from national governments.
Immediate costs for businesses and increasing prices
Von der Leyen clarified that the union has no intention of triggering escalation, but not even to suffer in silence. Stars and stripes protectionism, he said, will end up inking the supply chains and do increase costs For European companies, already tried for months of instability. More bureaucracy, less margin: this is the scenario.
Meanwhile, the prices risk the surge also for the basic necessities. A perspective that the Commission looks with concern, especially for the impact on the most exposed segments of the economic fabric.
EU-USA EXPORT: a historical link now in crisis
The president also recalled that the interchange between Europe and the United States represents one of the load -bearing columns of the global economy: Washington was the first market for the destination of European exports in 2024 and the EU is confirmed as the main supplier of goods to the United States.
A bilateral relationship that has produced millions of jobs over time and favored growth on both banks of the Atlantic.
Trump rates numbers: doubts about the administration’s calculations
Meanwhile, while the White House continues to talk about reciprocity, they emerge perplexity Rather concrete on how the numbers behind the new rates were built. More than an elaboration based on customs criteria, it looks like a division from middle school: fratto export commercial deficit.
We find arbitrary percentages, without links with the real barriers applied by partner countries. New Zealanders and Australians have already sent the accusations to the sender, calling those figures a caricature of their respective commercial policies. And many, between experts and governments, begin to treat those Tables as opinions, not as data.
Trump relaunches: “The golden age of America is back”
From the garden of the White House, decorated with flags and surrounded by workers of the car and steel sectors, the president presented the new policy as an economic rebirth for the United States. Make America Wealthy Again(“We make America rich again”), he said, illustrating the reasons behind the decisions made.
According to Trump, these measures will guarantee one National debt reduction and will encourage internal production, Because he lives in the belief that everyone will still buy from the USA, regardless. He then relaunched a message to foreign partners:
If you want duties zero, come to produce in America.
An appeal that, for example, John Elkann took immediately.
Market reaction: voltage to Wall Street and Europe in red
The announcement had an immediate impact on the markets. The dollar lost groundwhile American government bonds have recorded a rise in returns. The index of the Treasury ten -year touched 4.231%.
European bags have closed in declinewith the exception of Madrid who gained 0.40%. Milan left 0.27%on the ground, while Frankfurt lost 0.66%. At Wall Street, however, the indices held, supported by the expectations of a more expansive monetary policy by the Federal Reserve.
