Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 23, 2025
3 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleThe EU plans counter-tariffs on $109 billion of US goods if no trade deal is reached by August 1, targeting steel, aluminium, and cars.
By Julia Payne
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union could hit the United States with counter-tariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) worth of U.S. goods if the two sides fail to reach a trade deal by Washington's August 1 deadline for imposing import levies.
The European Commission has prepared two sets of possible counter-tariffs, which would be combined into one and submitted for approval to EU members. They would not be imposed until August 7.
Here is a breakdown of the two packages:
EU COUNTERMEASURES TO STEEL, ALUMINIUM TARIFFS
* EU members agreed a first package in April, but the measures were immediately suspended.
* The package hits imports of U.S. goods worth 21 billion euros and is designed as a response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium.
* The package sets a 25% tariff on most of the imports, but some goods like diamonds would be hit by a lower duty of 10%.
* The products include a range of agricultural goods: poultry, beef, fruit, cereals such as wheat, barley and oats, vegetable oils, corn (maize), rice and orange juice.
* Other goods include home appliances such as dishwashers and vacuum cleaners, sanitary products like toilet paper and dental floss, and larger items like motorcycles and motor boats.
* Soybeans and almonds are on this list, but would not be impacted until December 1.
EU COUNTERMEASURES TO BASELINE, CAR TARIFFS
* The second package is designed to respond to so-called "reciprocal" baseline tariffs, which U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to raise from 10% to 30%, as well as to tariffs on cars and car parts, currently set at 25%.
* The proposal was reduced to additional import duties on 72 billion euros of U.S. goods from an initial 95 billion euros.
* No tariff level has been set.
* The package targets 6.4 billion euros of agri-food products and 65.8 billion euros of industrial goods.
* Industrial items in the package include aircraft and aircraft parts, cars and car parts, machinery, chemicals and plastics, medical devices and electrical equipment.
* Food items in the package include bourbon, other spirits, wine, farm animals, bees, tobacco and pet food.
* 159 items were deleted from the initial list after a public consultation, according to a Reuters comparison of the two lists.
* Industrial products removed include all gas turbines, most magnets, all laboratory reagents, some photographic film, musical instrument strings, and some equipment related to semiconductors and data storage.
* Removed food products include soya bean seeds, pure-bred breeding horses and bovine semen.
($1 = 0.8530 euros)
(Reporting by Julia Payne and Milan Strahm. Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Mark Potter)
The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, and managing the EU's policies.
Countermeasures are actions taken by a country in response to trade practices deemed unfair, such as imposing tariffs or quotas on imports.
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