Trade wars

EU Preparing to Slap US With Tariffs on Goods Worth Billions of Dollars - Report

Although the showdown over support for Airbus dates back to 2004, the tensions only peaked recently when Donald Trump announced that the US intends to introduce $11 billion worth of tariffs on EU products over a WTO report about illegal subsidies to the European giant. This has impacted already uneasy trade relations between the EU and the US.

The European Commission is expected to present a draft list of tariffs on imported US goods, worth about $22.6 billion on 17 April, numerous reports, citing European diplomats suggest. 

This list revealed will reportedly be larger than the expected request to the World Trade Organisation. According to Reuters’ sources, the EU’s executive body intends to ask the WTO’s authorisation for $12 billion in retaliatory measures. The WTO is expected to decide no earlier than March 2020 on the matter. At present the WTO is now reviewing a reciprocal case by the US against the EU, which will reportedly be over by June or July 2019.

The report comes hot on the heels of Donald Trump’s announcement that Washington will tax EU exports to the tune of $11 billion in response to the WTO’s conclusion that the bloc subsidised its aerospace giant Airbus in breach of the existing regulations.