On Monday, the EU's foreign trade ministers will meet in Brussels after the US President Trump announced that tariffs will be increased to 30 percent on goods from Europe from August 1st.
We cannot accept that, says Benjamin Dousa, who says he is frustrated over the new tariff threat.
If the tariff threat remains, he wants the EU to come up with another countermeasure, in addition to the tariff increases that have been announced earlier. At the trade minister meeting in Brussels, he will try to get the other countries to join him.
Raise and lower
To mitigate the effects of the tariffs, we want to raise tariffs on goods that we buy from the US, and at the same time lower tariffs on goods from other countries.
He takes orange juice as an example. If the US raises its tariffs against the EU, the EU will raise tariffs on American juice.
At the same time, we lower the tariffs on orange juice from all other countries.
This means that the US will be punished and likely have a harder time selling its juice to the EU, while other juice-exporting countries will benefit.
He hopes that this will mitigate the effects for us, while we become more resilient against the US.
We get stronger cards against the US.
Brussels sprouts and chainsaw parts
However, he cannot say exactly how much the tariffs will be increased. Today, there are different tariff rates for different goods, and the tariffs must be set based on the current situation, he explains.
He cannot say exactly which goods the countermeasure will apply to, but in addition to orange juice, it may be a matter of, for example, Brussels sprouts, pasta, chainsaw parts, various hydraulic tools, and components for gas turbines.
The question is whether the countermeasure means that the tariff war escalates, and that we are drawn into a vicious spiral. There are those who think that the outside world should abolish tariffs against the US to show the way and stop the war.
This is a step, we want to put pressure on the US at the same time as we get as little effect as possible from the increased tariffs. We lower and abolish tariffs against the other countries.
