Counter-counter-tariffs? Trump threatens to hit back against EU’s retaliation

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to hit back against Europe’s own retaliatory move to Washington’s 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

As the latest tariffs went into effect Wednesday, the European Union (EU) announced it would impose counter-tariffs on 26 billion euros ($28.33 billion) worth of U.S. goods starting in April.

Trump later said on Wednesday that he would respond to the countermeasures with additional levies, telling reporters that the White House will be “doing reciprocal tariffs so whatever they charge us with, we’re charging them. Nobody can complain about that.”

Asked if he would reciprocate, Trump said, while sitting alongside Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin, “Of course I’m going to respond.”

“The problem is our country didn’t respond [previously],” he said, repeating an earlier claim that the EU was “set up in order to take advantage of the United States” — which contradicts the stated purpose of the bloc to further regional interests.

Asked whether Ireland was also taking advantage of Washington, Trump replied “of course they are,” as he bemoaned the U.S. “massive [trade] deficit” with Ireland that he blamed on the island’s low corporate tax rates.

Data out in November from Ireland’s statistics agency, the CSO, show Ireland’s biggest goods trade surplus in 2023 was with the U.S., with which Dublin had a trading surplus of 31 billion euros over the period.

Trade imbalances are one of Trump’s biggest gripes with international trading partners. While the president imposed tariffs on Mexico, China and Canada early into his second term in office, the EU has escaped targeted duties so far.

The bloc is firmly in his sights, however, with Trump threatening 25% of levies and lambasting the EU for trade imbalances with the States.

Data from the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said the bloc had a trade surplus of 155.8 billion euros with the U.S. for goods in 2023, but ran a 104 billion euro deficit on services. Overall, EU-U.S. trade in goods and services in 2023 was worth 1.6 trillion euros, according to the EU.

Machinery and vehicles make up the largest chunk of EU exports to the U.S. by product group, followed by chemicals, other manufactured goods and medicinal and pharmaceutical products. 

Tensions between Washington and Brussels have been simmering since Trump’s inauguration in January, when the White House leader immediately signaled his intention to impose tariffs on the bloc.

“They’ve really taken advantage of us,” Trump said in a Cabinet meeting on Feb. 26, adding: “They don’t accept our cars, they don’t accept, essentially, our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not. And we accept everything of them.”

After imposing 25% steel and aluminum tariffs on Wednesday, which the EU said will affect up to 26 billion euros worth of the bloc’s exports to the U.S., the European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU “must act to protect businesses and consumers.”

“We deeply regret this measure [by the U.S.]. Tariffs are taxes, they are bad for business and worse for consumers, they are disrupting supply chains, they bring uncertainty for the economy, jobs are at stake, prices are up and nobody needs that, neither side needs that,” she said during a news conference.

Trade ties between the U.S. and EU “are the biggest in the world,” von der Leyen said, adding that the relationship previously brought “prosperity and security to millions of people” and resulted in job creation on both sides of the Atlantic.

The EU’s two-pronged approach will see previously suspended tariffs re-imposed on 8 billion euros of U.S. exports, and a slew of new countermeasures on 18 billion euros of goods — in a move von der Leyen had earlier described as “strong but proportionate.”

“We will always remain open to negotiation,” she added in a statement.