EU told to ‘brace’ for multibillion Trump tariffs

05/29/2019

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Hans Von Der Burchard, Jakob Hanke, Maxime Schlee | Politico

The Tariff Man is on track to hit hard again this summer, and it’s bad news for EU companies ranging from Dutch cheesemakers to industrial heavyweight Airbus.

European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström warned the EU’s trade ministers at a meeting on Monday that they need to steel themselves for U.S. President Donald Trump to hit billions of euros worth of European goods with tariffs, ramping up a decadeslong dispute over unwarranted subsidies for Airbus.

“We should brace for this,” the officials cited Malmström as saying.

Although the WTO ruled that not only Airbus but also its American competitor Boeing benefited from illegal state aid, the U.S. case against Airbus is more advanced. Washington said last month it wants to levy retaliatory tariffs on up to $21 billion of European products, a decision that still needs to be confirmed by a WTO arbitrator. The verdict is expected to come in July.

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