Tariffs: European response to the United States could be “extremely aggressive,” warns the French Minister of Foreign Trade

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/usa/droits-de-douane/direct-droits-de-douane-en-inde-la-bourse-chute-de-plus-de-3-a-l-ouverture-apres-l-offensive-douaniere-americaine_7175439.html

by vo1tis

50 comments

  1. >Laurent Saint-Martin mentioned the ‘anti-coercion instrument’, which would freeze access to European public contracts or block investment.

    >What will be Europe’s response to the trade war launched by Donald Trump? We must not exclude any option, on [American] goods and services, and open up the European toolbox, which is very comprehensive and can also be extremely aggressive in return’, warned the French Minister for Foreign Trade ahead of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Luxembourg on Monday 7 April. Laurent Saint-Martin mentioned the ‘anti-coercion instrument’, which could freeze access to European public contracts or block investments.

  2. Good, honestly i hope EU respond hard again, and just tarif the hell back of USA! Yes its destroying the economy short sighted, but we have to protect European companies!

  5. So, when will the response be? China responded ASAP, why is the EU always the last to do something? Smh..

  6. China has hit back hard and cut off critical minerals, put 34% tartiffs on US goods, and using very strong language “If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end,” said China’s US embassy. Not to mention agreeing to greater economic collaboration with South Korea and Japan.

    [China Just Turned Off U.S. Supplies Of Minerals Critical For Defense & Cleantech](https://cleantechnica.com/2025/04/05/china-just-turned-off-u-s-supplies-of-minerals-critical-for-defense-cleantech/)

    If Europe also goes hard this is going to put a lot of pressure on the US.

  8. Nobody cares about woulda, coulda, shoulda. Do. The time for talking, announcements, and long debates is long gone.

    Just take decisive and collective action.

    Instead of finger pointing and finger wagging, put those fingers together and make a fist.

  10. There has to be a smarter and more efficient way to counter tariffs instead of just slapping tariffs ourselves, which would only make things more expensive for European customers.

  11. Good. Only dead fish go with the stream. Having the US benefit from this spat would be catastrophic for our own economy. Retaliatory tariffs need to happen like yesterday. Volvo is already talking of producing another brand in the US to circumvent the tariffs. Retaliatory ones are necessary to keep them in place. We got this. Long live Europe

  13. Yea but will countries like Italy and Spain follow suit. Their economies aren’t particularly strong at all and they definitely don’t want this to escalate.

  14. this is the only way to respond. if they don’t respond with maximum force to hobble the US economy, Trump will drag this on for months or years and destroy both economies in a much deeper and long lasting way.

  15. “Could be”. I wish media wrote less about the endless hypotheticals and maybes and more about what is actually happening, particularly on matters discussed by EU politicians. Would make them look less stereotypically indecisive

  16. Europes response has been piss poor. A desire to negotiate zero tariffs? For real?

    Have you seen what they’ve said about Vietnam who immediately folded.

  17. There is one thing we should be careful about. Retaliation, while it seems necessary, shouldn’t lower the cost of starting a war to invade Greenland. If it is too steep, it will be easier for the US to justify going all out, because it will have less to lose. We should keep in mind that we need the realistic threat of a next step.

  18. I’m not sure what to think about it. If sure feels weak, even like surrender.

    On the other hand it might be a smart way of giving Trump a “win” to get him off our backs. Because as I understand it tariffs were never actually the issue, trade deficits were. And that wouldn’t change. Neither would European health regulations or worker protections. So he isn’t getting much of anything.

    But either way the EU doesn’t seem to care about prestige and optics whatsoever. Maybe that’s wisdom, maybe it will be the death of us.

  21. Fucking hope so. They need to get punched in the face so goddamn hard.

    If they are weak and play softball I’m going to have a fucking aneurysm

  22. Europe needs to stand strong and not fold to the USA and Trump. He now dropped his economic MOAB and does not have much more ammunition left whereas Europe has countless possibilities to make their wobbling economy crash – target their military imports into the EU/NATO, make them pull out their military bases of Europe, shut down Big Tech in the Union, etc. They have a lot to lose and Europe a lot to gain.
    If the average US consumer does not have money anymore to overconsume this market is getting uninteresting anyways.

  23. American people are gonna suffer the most from inflation and recession resulting from these tariff wars

  25. I wish to remember everybody that the US tariffs aren’t online yet.

    And given the instability of Trump’s decisions, it’s necessary to plan for a variety of scenarios including the possibility he might drop some of them, as unlikely is that.

    Plus, putting placing tariffs hurts EU companies importing stuff as well: developing strategic tariffs to maximise the hurt on the US companies while minimizing the hurt on EU companies is not something done overnight.
    Especially if in the meantime they manage to prepare deals with other countries to further reduce the damages to EU economy.

  26. Trade is of much more importance to the affluent countries of Europe than it is to the USA.

    Great to talk tough but it could collapse the economies off Germany, the Netherlands, etc. It also puts these countries at the economic mercy of China. The German car industry might collapse if China decides to put reciprocal tariffs on EU vehicles that the EU has on theirs. Imagine the economic leverage China could have over EU policy in technology, etc.

  27. Yeah… Turns out we would rather talk instead and won’t actually fight back…

  28. Yeah!
    We could have two meetings and not just one!
    Be warned!

  29. Why tariffs? Tariffs are a taxation on the population of the country.

    Would an export tax (not possible to zero rate for export) work better in respect of goods that the US needs? It would bring money into Europe.

  30. It’s the tenth time I heard this the Last month…

    DO SOMETHING AL READY PLS

  31. Can someone explain to me why isn’t Europe setup a unified taxation so gafa and other big companies stop escaping taxes to pay low rates in Luxembourg or Ireland, I get that the income loss would be terrible for those countries but couldn’t we setup something so these are compensated by the huge amount of money Europe would get from global taxation?

  32. I don’t trust Europe. They don’t have the necessary backbone.

  33. Don’t sing it, bring it! The suspense is killing me. As a European, I’m highly concerned over the ability of our consensus-based union to take decisive actions. I wish we were a federation, with a more powerful central government.

  35. I wonder if iphones and dyson fans will get more expensive lol.

  36. Funny that I don’t need a single thing that Europe produces.

  38. It’s just a way for China EU trade to boost. US will be loser.

  40. Like response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine? Trump can sleep peacefully.

  41. It better be. Right now Canada and China are leading the world in standing up to trump.

    Would love to have the EU by our side ❤️

  44. The rest of the world has the rest of the world to do trade with.

    America only has America.

  46. I hope but I don’t believe it. EU is going to roll over for US as always.

  47. Fucking do it! Stop talking about it! Ugh I’m so dissapointed in the EU right now.

  48. Match US tariffs exactly and say you’ll transition off of the dollar reserve if escalation continues.

  50. Utter bullshit! The EU offered zero tariffs to the US weeks before Trump implemented the tariffs. Pathetic, fucking pathetic as usual. 

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