EU Ready to Act if US Trade Negotiations Fail

BERLIN (Reuters) -The European Union will be ready to respond to U.S. tariffs if negotiations with the United States do not work, German Finance Minister Joerg Kukies said on Friday.

"The U.S. side has to be aware that if negotiations do not work, then we will have another discussion around response mechanisms," Kukies said in Warsaw ahead of a meeting of EU finance ministers.

The attention of global markets has returned to U.S. President Donald Trump's escalating trade war with China and recession fears, following a brief reprieve after Trump decided to pause duties earlier this week.

Kukies also warned that Trump's decision to pause trade tariffs for dozens of countries for 90 days may add to uncertainty and keep markets and company executives on edge.

"What remains is the uncertainty, which no CEO likes," the outgoing finance minister said in an interview in German newspaper Handelsblatt's Friday edition.

"It potentially increases uncertainty even more. After all, there could be further escalation after 90 days," he added.

The minister noted that the European Commission has been diligent to calibrate its potential responses in sectors where the European industry has viable alternatives, while keeping consumer segments in mind that rely on U.S. providers.

"Digital retailer measures are not great because there are no real alternatives to the services which Americans provide," Kukies said, calling for increasing the competitiveness of the EU digital sector.

(Reporting by Maria Martinez, Editing by Friederike Heine and Ludwig Burger)