THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has said it was putting forward a new list of US goods worth €72 billion that could be targeted by EU levies if tariff talks with Washington fail.

European trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič announced the proposal, “accounting for some €72 billion-worth of US imports”, at a meeting with EU trade ministers in Brussels this morning.

The ministers met to discuss the ongoing negotiations with the US to mitigate the potential tariffs which President Donald Trump seeks to increase on member states.

It followed the US’ latest announcement that a blanket tariff would be increased from an expected baseline of 10% to 30% if there is no deal by 1 August, which could result in a devastating trade war.

At the meeting, EU trade ministers said they found the prospect of 30% tariffs “unjustified and unacceptable”.

They agreed they were still keen to secure an agreement with Washington before that deadline to head off the damaging duties.

But at the same time Brussels is moving to ready potential retaliation if Trump presses ahead with the sweeping tariffs.

“There was a total unified position among the ministers that we should be ready to respond if needed,” said Denmark’s foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.

“If you want peace, you have to prepare for war.”

The EU has already prepared a separate list of US imports worth €21 billion that it is ready to target over earlier tariffs from Trump on steel and aluminium.

30% tariffs would make trade ‘impossible’

The bloc announced on Sunday that it would further hold off putting that list into force as it searches for a deal with the US by August.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the meeting this morning, Šefčovič said a tariff of 30% or higher would make it “almost impossible” to continue trade between the EU and the US as normal.

“If you look at the impact that this would have, the transatlantic supply chains would be heavily impacted on both sides of the Atlantic. [The US] definitely don’t want that. Show me one industry leader who would be happy about that,” he said.

“Therefore, we feel a huge responsibility for the biggest trading relationship on this planet,” he said.

Rumours were rife in Brussels last week that the US and European negotiating teams had reached a deal.

Šefčovič said that it had been their understanding that both negotiating teams were moving towards finalising a deal last week, and agreed when asked if he felt let down that the US President had threatened to place a 30% tariff on the EU.

He said that, despite the threat from Trump, American negotiators are pleased to continue negotiations: “[It's] $1.7tr dollars. It’s $400bn flying across the ocean every day in the form of goods and services.

“We are showing an enormous patience and enormous creativity to find solutions, but if it reaches 30+%, quite simply, the trading as we know it will not continue, with a huge negative effect on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Šefčovič, who has been negotiating with his American counterparts on behalf of the EU, said Europe will not allow the US to take such “unjustified” measures and argued that an escalation of 30% would a breach between the two countries’ existing trade agreement.

‘Restore the balance’

He was firm that member states would not hesitate to implement harsh countermeasures on the US to “restore the balance” in the economic relationship.

While a response from the EU has been well-flagged and prepared for over three months, there are significant concerns that European countertariffs would result in an escalating trade war, which could damage Ireland’s economy.

Ireland’s EU minister Thomas Byrne, who is representing the government at today’s meeting in Brussels, would not detail whether Ireland would back the EU’s countermeasures, claiming that talks are “not at that stage”.

He said that it is the Irish government’s position that it will continue to support the commission in its ongoing negotiations. Tánaiste and trade minister Simon Harris has arranged a number of meetings with European and American counterparts.

Meanwhile, meetings between the commission’s Šefčovič and his American counterparts will continue today, one week after a deal looked likely. He was adamant this morning that a deal would be reached by 1 August.

Speaking to RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, European democracy commissioner Michael McGrath said the EU and the US need to cooperate at a time when both economies are competing with China and other developing markets.

Ireland’s commissioner said: “The negotiations continue, and we stand ready to intensify that dialogue.

“But in the event of that not being successful, and of the 30% tariff threat that was issued by President Trump coming to pass in two-and-a-half weeks time, then the European response will be firm, will be quick, and it will be robust.”

McGrath said that two different scenarios have been planned by the EU, which seeks to target €90bn worth of US exports into European countries. He added that the Commission is seeking to reach a deal.

Over the weekend, Harris said that there was “no necessity” for the US to escalate the trade row and that it was time for the EU to “redouble our efforts” to come to a positive outcome.