Brussels repeats again and again that the commercial war that is opening the United States is “unfair” and “harmful.” And it has been proposed to convince Washington’s political class, at least to those closest to Donald Trump, that is to the Republicans. The response to the rise of general tariffs already decreed by the White House to steel and aluminum is wide, but has included products that have their origin in states such as Alabama, Georgia, Virginia or Louisiana, areas that clearly voted for Republicans in the last elections. The objective, sources of the European Commission point out, is that the representatives of these districts, both senators and congressmen, become aware that these measures harm their own voters and that they end up soften the new US administration.
The European Union imports soybeans from the United States, an agricultural product that has enough weight in states such as Indiana, Arkansas or Nebraska. He also has it in the state of Louisiana, where he is elected congressman Mike Johnson, leader the Republicans in the House of Representatives. Among the products to be sanction also is the Bourbon, the whiskey North American by Antonomasia. That is an emblematic drink of Tennessee and Kentucky, the state that has been choosing since 1985 as a senator to Mitch McConnell, one of the historic leaders of the leaders of the Great Old Party. They are only two examples that the European response to the announced Trump tariff lobby in reverse and indirect way in the US capital.
In Brussels, the impression that the tariff increase activated this time by Washington “is not very intelligent.” “It is bad for the economy and companies. This will hurt the United States economy because they do not take into account what type of goods companies need to produce, for example, cars that depend on special steel or aluminum products that are manufactured in the EU. We are not China or Canada. We make products of high added value, ”says a source that has been in the preparation of Brussels’s response. Its analysis is that it is a measure of thick stroke, not very selective and that does not take into account the consequences, something that was considered seven years ago, he explains.
On the contrary, European turns tries to be more selective. Community sources explain that it seeks to hit where it hurts and affects products that have a symbolic value (Harley-Davidson motorcycles). At the same time, imports that could be replaced by buying in other areas of the world have been selected. Soy, for example, is easily substitutable bringing it from Brazil or Argentina.
Just a few minutes from six in the morning when the European Commission has made its answer public. “The club is ready,” said a high commercial source of one of the Member States last night. But Brussels also offers the carrot: “We are ready to start the dialogue,” said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, while the details of the European replica were known.
The principle with which this club has been designed is based on the fact that when you start negotiating with Washington, you have to show strength and firmness. “Euro per euro, dollar per dollar,” summed up a community source this morning, clearly illustrating what commercial turns means: inflict the same damage that is received. And there have been designed two American products lists that will have 25%tariffs, as a general rule. Between both an response of about 26,000 million euros will be reached, quantity quite similar to that of Trump’s measure.
The first will enter into force on April 1. It is basically the response given by the European Commission in 2018, when Trump’s first administration already unilaterally increased steel and aluminum tariffs. In it were the Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a company based in Wisconsin, a state that voted for Trump last November, but that on other occasions falls on the Democratic side. That listing added a series of agricultural products such as some varieties of corn or rice, also collected citrus juices. Agricultural and agrifood products are usually quite used in this type of response. This answer also collects certain types of makeup and, of course, steel and aluminum products.
Olivier Hoslet (EFE)
The second list is still provisional. It is a proposal that has been made public so that all interested parties (member states and companies) can claim the exclusion of a product for the damage it could cause in the economy (shortage of a product difficult to replace, for example). The tariffs of this cast affect a trade worth about 21,000 million euros. Although it is likely that in this process it will be reduced to be about 18,000, which will be added to the 8,000 of the first list. Once the second list is definitively made, it will go to the EU council, where it will be easily ratified, since to knock it down a qualified majority against it (55% of states that add 65% of the population). The initial forecast is that it enters into force in the middle of April.
In this second group of sanctioned imports, bird meat appears, an important production in areas such as Nebraska or Kansas, again republican areas, an important contingent of dairy products and cheese, palm oil, fresh citrus, processed foods, wines and liquors, shampoos and hygiene products, dress items, kitchen items (glass vessels, for example), refrigerators, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers, freezers. Cortation, hand tools, motorcycles, and, of course, steel and aluminum items, the original motive of this commercial battle.
Of course, in this wide list there are imports and products that do not leave only republican areas. There are also California; Many wines or citrus fruits occur in that state of the west coast markedly democrat. The explanation is that when designing the answer, no electoral effect is sought, but to convince US politicians, especially those who can be more easily heard by Trump, that opening a commercial war with the EU “is a bad idea.”
