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The EU has given itself a four-week window to convince Donald Trump to drop his 20 per cent tariffs on the bloc, with retaliation ruled out before late April.
Brussels would prepare measures to hit back, but hold off for the time being in the hope that it could negotiate a solution, two officials told the FT.
A third said that it was possible the US president could do U-turn before then, as he has before, given the economic damage his so-called “reciprocal” tariffs against most of the world will do.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said on Thursday the bloc was “prepared to respond” to the US levies but emphasised it preferred to negotiate to “remove any remaining barriers to transatlantic trade”.
But she said the global economy would “massively suffer” from the US moves, including the US.
“We are already finalising a first package of countermeasures in response to tariffs on steel,” she said on a trip to Uzbekistan. “We are now preparing for further countermeasures, to protect our interests and our businesses if negotiations fail.”
Brussels is set to impose duties on up to €26bn of US goods in response to steel and aluminium tariffs in mid-April. It has yet to retaliate against 25 per cent tariffs on car exports announced last week.
Any further moves require consultations with member states since a weighted majority needs to back them, giving space for negotiations.
Officials hope the talks could lead to a suspension, while a detailed deal is drawn up.
Von der Leyen offered an olive branch to Trump, conceding that some countries were “taking unfair advantage” of global trade rules.
But “reaching for tariffs as your first and last tool will not fix it”, she said, warning that the tariffs would “hurt consumers around the world” and raise the cost of groceries, medication and transport.
“The global economy will massively suffer,” she said.
Von der Leyen vowed the EU would “stand up for” targeted industries including cars and steel and protect its market from dumped goods forced out of the US market.
“We will also be watching closely what indirect effects these tariffs could have because we cannot absorb global overcapacity nor will we accept dumping on our markets.
“Europe has everything it needs to make it through the storm,” she added. “We are in this together. If you take on one of us, you take on all of us.”
Behind the scenes, however, leaders have been lobbying to ensure their industries are protected from retaliation to EU countermeasures. France has sought to scrap proposed EU measures against bourbon whiskey, while Ireland has asked for dairy duties to be dropped.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally, said earlier that tariffs do “not suit either party” and that she would seek a deal with the US to “prevent a trade war”.
Trump accused the EU of targeting the US with a tariff rate of in effect 39 per cent, a figure the commission puts at about 1 per cent.
The US president based that figure on other factors such as VAT, which reaches 27 per cent in some member states, and restrictions on imports of chicken washed with chlorine and other farm goods.
The White House is also targeting the bloc’s regulation of tech companies and digital taxes.
The EU exported €503bn of goods to the US in 2023, running a €157bn surplus. But it had a €109bn deficit in services.
The EU could target US services, such as by suspending some intellectual property rights and excluding companies from public procurement contracts under its enforcement regulation.
A step further would be the first use of its “anti-coercion” instrument.
Simon Evenett, a professor at IMD Business School, said the EU’s reliance on US military power to deter Russia and its lack of alternative markets limited the bloc’s ability to respond.
“European trade retaliation is a placebo, offering the illusion of resolve while first-order priorities of rearmament and export diversification remain unaddressed,” he said.
