Brussels may goal American “digital companies” if tariff talks collapse, in response to Ursula von der Leyen
The European Union is ready to impose bloc-wide tariffs on main US tech firms, reminiscent of Meta and Google, if negotiations with Washington fail to resolve the escalating commerce dispute, European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen has warned.
Following President Donald Trump’s resolution to pause additional tariff hikes for 90 days, EU exports to the US will nonetheless face a “baseline” 10% import obligation as a substitute of deliberate 20% below his new commerce regime. Nonetheless, the European Fee introduced it could quickly droop its countermeasures pending additional negotiations.
Chatting with the Monetary Instances on Thursday, von der Leyen stated Brussels was able to deploy its strongest commerce measures, probably focusing on American digital service suppliers and the promoting revenues of Silicon Valley giants.
“We’re growing retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen stated, including that these may embody the primary use of the EU’s anti-coercion mechanism to hit companies reasonably than items. “There’s a variety of countermeasures… in case the negotiations are usually not passable.”
“An instance is you can put a levy on the promoting revenues of digital companies,” she added, outlining a measure that may apply throughout the bloc’s total single market – on high of digital gross sales taxes set individually by member states.
Whereas the EU stays dedicated to searching for a “utterly balanced” settlement throughout Trump’s 90-day tariff freeze, von der Leyen made clear that Brussels wouldn’t hesitate to behave if talks fail. The Fee can be contemplating tariffs on US scrap steel exports, in addition to protecting measures to forestall Chinese language items – focused by prohibitive 145% US tariffs – from flooding European markets.
Von der Leyen described Trump’s tariff battle as a “turning level” for international commerce, saying there can be no return to the “established order” between the EU and the US. She claimed that Brussels had tried to barter with Washington in latest months however was informed to attend till Trump’s April 2 announcement, which imposed a 20% “reciprocal” tariff on the EU.
Whereas either side have agreed that reform of the World Commerce Group (WTO) is required, von der Leyen warned that the financial chaos unleashed by Trump’s tariffs was already inflicting heavy prices on international markets.
“There are not any winners on this, solely losers,” she stated. “As we speak we see the price of chaos… the prices of the uncertainty that we’re experiencing right now shall be heavy.”
Von der Leyen confirmed that the EU would pause its deliberate retaliation in opposition to US metal and aluminum tariffs throughout the negotiations however burdened that Brussels wouldn’t negotiate over its “untouchable” guidelines on digital content material, market energy, and different “sovereign selections.” The bloc additionally is not going to negotiate over value-added tax (VAT), which US officers — together with Trump — by some means deem “discriminatory” in opposition to American exporters, though each imported and domestically produced items are taxed equally.
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