The European Union (EU) has outlined a plan to deploy powerful trade measures, including levies on US digital companies such as Google and Facebook, should negotiations with the Trump administration prove unsuccessful in resolving the ongoing tariff dispute, a report has said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen , in an interview with The Financial Times, emphasised the EU’s commitment to securing a “completely balanced” agreement with Washington during the 90-day pause on additional US tariffs, announced by President Donald Trump.
However, she made it clear that the EU is prepared to significantly broaden the trade conflict to encompass services, potentially introducing a tax on digital advertising revenues that would directly impact tech giants like Meta, Google and Facebook.
“We are developing retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen stated, revealing that these may involve the first utilisation of the bloc’s ‘anti-coercion instrument’, which grants the EU the power to impose restrictions on service exports.
“There's a wide range of countermeasures... in case the negotiations are not satisfactory,” she was quoted as saying.
EC president says taxes on services to be based on discussions with US
Specifically, she suggested potential tariffs on the substantial services trade between the US and the EU, clarifying that the precise measures would hinge on the outcome of the discussions with Washington.
“An example is you could put a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services,” she explained, adding that the proposed levy will be a tariff applied uniformly across the EU’s single market.
Von der Leyen described Trump's trade policies as having instigated “a complete inflection point in global trade,” marking “a turning point with the United States without any question.”
She asserted, “We will never go back any more to the status quo.”
“There are no winners in this, only losers. Today we see the cost of chaos . . . the costs of the uncertainty that we are experiencing today will be heavy,” she continued.
In a move to facilitate negotiations with Washington, the Commission has temporarily suspended its planned retaliatory measures against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, which had been implemented the previous month.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen , in an interview with The Financial Times, emphasised the EU’s commitment to securing a “completely balanced” agreement with Washington during the 90-day pause on additional US tariffs, announced by President Donald Trump.
However, she made it clear that the EU is prepared to significantly broaden the trade conflict to encompass services, potentially introducing a tax on digital advertising revenues that would directly impact tech giants like Meta, Google and Facebook.
“We are developing retaliatory measures,” von der Leyen stated, revealing that these may involve the first utilisation of the bloc’s ‘anti-coercion instrument’, which grants the EU the power to impose restrictions on service exports.
“There's a wide range of countermeasures... in case the negotiations are not satisfactory,” she was quoted as saying.
EC president says taxes on services to be based on discussions with US
Specifically, she suggested potential tariffs on the substantial services trade between the US and the EU, clarifying that the precise measures would hinge on the outcome of the discussions with Washington.
“An example is you could put a levy on the advertising revenues of digital services,” she explained, adding that the proposed levy will be a tariff applied uniformly across the EU’s single market.
Von der Leyen described Trump's trade policies as having instigated “a complete inflection point in global trade,” marking “a turning point with the United States without any question.”
She asserted, “We will never go back any more to the status quo.”
“There are no winners in this, only losers. Today we see the cost of chaos . . . the costs of the uncertainty that we are experiencing today will be heavy,” she continued.
In a move to facilitate negotiations with Washington, the Commission has temporarily suspended its planned retaliatory measures against U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, which had been implemented the previous month.
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