Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic will this afternoon have a conversation with the US Trade Minister Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. We see it as a positive step, says Olof Gill, the EU Commission's spokesperson on trade issues.
The talks come as a result of the increasingly escalated trade conflict over the past week. President Donald Trump's introduction of 25-percent steel and aluminum tariffs has been countered by the EU, which has promised to reintroduce previously frozen tariffs on, among other things, motorcycles and American bourbon from April 1.
This has in turn led Trump to threaten 200-percent tariffs on European alcohol.
We are ready to respond if necessary. Our interest lies in defending our industry and our consumers. We believe that the best way to do this is to remove all tariffs completely and start rebuilding trade relations between the EU and the US rather than tearing them down, says Gill at a press conference in Brussels.
