Germany Steps In as EU-US Trade War Heats Up: ’Cool Heads Needed’
Trade tensions between Brussels and Washington hit a boiling point this week—and Berlin isn’t having it.
Behind closed doors: German officials are pushing for de-escalation as tariffs and regulatory threats fly across the Atlantic. No numbers disclosed (because when do governments ever show their math?), but insiders call it the worst standoff since the Boeing-Airbus feud.
Why it matters: With supply chains still recovering from pandemic whiplash, another trade war could send inflation soaring faster than a shitcoin on leverage. And we all know who gets burned when the suits start swinging.
Bottom line: When the world’s two largest economies square off, everyone loses—except maybe the lawyers billing 900 euros an hour to ’facilitate dialogue.’
Tensions between the US and the EU are on the rise
Trump rejected the proposed plan, writing in his social-media post that the talks were “going nowhere” and repeated his pledge to impose the 50% blanket duty on June 1. Speaking later, Bessent said the EU proposal was “worse than other countries’” but added that he hoped the president’s warning “would light a fire under the EU.”
The two chief negotiators, EU trade head Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart, Jamieson Greer, were still due to speak by phone on Friday, officials confirmed, yet no breakthrough was announced after the call.
EU officials say their offer replies to what one described earlier as a US “wish list of unrealistic and unilateral demands.” Brussels wants Washington to promise not to add new tariffs while talks continue. It is willing to lower duties in stages or through a quota system that WOULD keep higher levies in place only once imports pass a set volume.
The EU also proposes mutual-recognition deals in areas such as services and non-sensitive farm goods. Under such deals, each side would accept the other’s standards without changing its own rules.
At the same time, Europe has prepared a safety net. The bloc has readied tariffs on €21 billion (about $23.9 billion) of US goods in response to earlier American metal duties, though their start has been paused until mid-July. Officials say that date could be brought forward if the talks break down.
Should the dispute worsen, an extra list of tariffs on €95 billion worth of goods is waiting in reserve. Those tariffs would target industrial goods, including Boeing aircraft, US-made cars, and Kentucky bourbon.
Some member states want the European Commission to prepare even wider steps if Trump widens his threat to sectors such as computer chips and medicines.
With the calendar ticking down to the June 1 deadline and the EU’s own mid-July trigger date, diplomats on both continents say a breakthrough is needed within weeks. Until then, businesses on both sides are bracing for higher costs and fresh uncertainty.
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