The European Union Commission is preparing to introduce tariffs on $20 billion of U.S. goods if Washington imposes trade levies on imported cars, EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Wednesday.
โWe hope that it doesnโt come to that and that we can a solution. If not, the EU Commission is preparing a rather long list of many American goods. It would be around $20 billion,โ she said.
Any new European tariffs will not be directed at specific American states, she said. โNo, now itโs more general goods such as agricultural products, machinery, high-tech products and other things,โ she said.
She said that she didnโt think U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinโs proposal to drop tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies was serious, pointing out that the U.S. has laws and subsidies protecting American industries.
โWe tried earlier in TTIP negotiations to make the United States loosen those laws. It was completely impossible. They did not move a millimeter,โ Malmstrom told Dagens Nyheter.
Malmstrom is part of EU delegation in Washington for talks on Wednesday on a long-term trade deal.
โBasically, Iโm an optimistic person, but heading in to this Iโm moderately optimistic. But one must always try.โ
