The European Union Thursday paused its retaliatory tariff countermeasures against the United States for 90 days. European Commission Presdient Ursula von der Leyen said “We want to give negotiations a chance.” File photo by Olivier Matthys/ EPA-EFE

April 10 (UPI) — The European Union Thursday paused its retaliatory tariff countermeasures against the United States for 90 days to give negotiations a chance.

“If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in. Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues. As I have said before, all options remain on the table,” EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X.

As the pause was announced she said the EU “took note” of the Trump administration’s 90-day tariffs pause.

“While finalizing the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our Member States, we will put them on hold for 90 days,” von der Leyen added,

She said tariffs hurt businesses and consumers on both sides and reiterated a preference for the U.S. and EU to adopt zero tariffs between them.

Before the pause, the EU had approved tariff countermeasures on $23.3 billion dollars in U.S. goods including industrial and agricultural commodities.

The EU’s action came one day after President Donald Trump backed down from most of the extreme tariffs he had imposed on allies and other nations in the face of crashing stock markets and a threatened bond market.

The huge shock to markets caused by Trump’s high tariffs was followed by one of the largest single-day gains in U.S. stock market history when the U.S. pause was announced.

The U.S. imposed 20% tariffs on the EU on top of 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and cars Trump has targeted the EU with earlier.

All that was replaced with 10% tariffs on most U.S. trading partners while tariffs on China were increased again to 125%.

“The U.S. uses tariff as a weapon to exert maximum pressure for its own selfish gains, which severely hurts the legitimate rights and interests of all countries, violates the WTO rules, sabotages the rules-based multilateral trading regime, and destabilizes the global economic order,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Thursday.

Despite the tariff pauses Deutsche Bank’s George Saravelos told clients that the damage has been done due to the unpredictability of U.S. policy.

Money in foreign exchange markets continued the flow away from the dollar and toward other currencies, with the euro, yen and Swiss franc all climbing in value.