EU offers Trump removal of all industrial tariffs

BRUSSELS — The EU has offered the United States a “zero-for-zero” tariff scheme, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday, seeking to avoid a tit-for-tat trade war.

“We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners. Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table,” she told a press conference alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

The U.S. and EU came close to a similar a deal a decade ago when they discussed the TTIP — the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership — that was ultimately scuppered by Trump back in 2018.

Removing tariffs on industrial products like cars and chemicals was not seen as controversial at the time — agricultural products and safety standards were a much hotter potato.

Von der Leyen’s renewed offer comes after President Donald Trump last week slapped 20 percent tariffs on the EU and a slew of other trade partners, hiking U.S. trade barriers to their highest in more than a century.

Trump’s trade war has caused investors to panic, with financial markets across the world losing trillions of dollars or euros in value. European stocks suffered their biggest one-day falls since the start of the Covid pandemic on Monday.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said separately that the zero-for-zero deal could cover cars and all other industrial goods, such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber and plastic machinery. | Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP via Getty Images

Amid the market turmoil, von der Leyen sought to project calm.

“We stand ready to negotiate with the U.S.,” she said. 

The EU charges average tariffs of just 1.6 percent on U.S. non-agricultural products, on a trade-weighted basis. But it does charge a higher tariff of 10 percent on imported American cars — although the U.S. is the only G7 country that still pays it because TTIP wasn’t concluded.

Clarifying, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič said separately that the zero-for-zero deal could cover cars and all other industrial goods, such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber and plastic machinery.

Von der Leyen also did not rule out retaliation: “We are also prepared to respond through countermeasures and defend our interests,” she said.

The EU’s 27 trade ministers met in Luxembourg earlier on Monday to discuss the U.S. measures and the Commission’s response. 

Still expected this week is the EU’s retaliation against Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum that have been in place since last month. Šefčovič, speaking to reporters after the meeting in Luxembourg, said the Commission had prepared “a robust list.”

(Additional reporting by Camille Gijs and Jakob Weizman in Luxembourg and by Giovanna Coi in Brussels. This story has been updated.)