You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
Economy
EU President Ursula von der Leyen is Apoplectic, Worries of Asian Product Dumping into EU
2025-04-03
[ConservativeTreehouse] The response from the EU is exactly what we would expect to see from the end of the 80-year-old Marshal Plan.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyden has three big concerns with the new trade/tariff reset. I strongly suggest everyone to read the EU concerns slowly to fully absorb decades of hypocrisy now surfacing:

#1 The EU will not be able to compete for U.S. market share with 20% general tariffs and 25% auto tariffs.

#2 The EU must deploy countermeasures against the risk of losing industrial capacity and manufacturing to the United States.

And #3 The EU must defend itself against China dumping cheap products into the EU now rejected by the USA.

von der Leyen is concerned mostly about the extremely valuable U.S. consumer being leveraged by President Trump, essentially blocking exploitation from EU and Asia. The EU will not tolerate losing access to the most valuable customers in the world, Americans.

Showcasing the mindset, Ursula von der Leyen vows to take all action needed to retain U.S. customers, even if those customers no longer want her products. The USA will allow Europe access, or there will be hell to pay. I must say this is quite funny.

(Via Politico) [...] Von der Leyen said Trump’s tariffs would have dire consequences for consumers and businesses that have prospered through trade with the United States since World War Two.

[...] The EU chief executive said the bloc would ready countermeasures against Trump’s latest tariff broadside, in addition to a €26 billion package responding to tariffs he has already imposed on steel and aluminum. At the same time, she vowed, Brussels will work to protect the industries most exposed.

"We are already finalizing the first package of countermeasures in response to tariffs on steel, and we are now preparing for further countermeasures to protect our interests and our businesses if negotiations fail," von der Leyen said from Samarkand, Uzbekistan, where she was attending a summit.

"We will also be watching closely what indirect effects these tariffs could have. Because we cannot absorb global overcut capacity, nor will we accept dumping on our markets," von der Leyen said, as the bloc braces for a flood of cheaper exports coming from China and elsewhere that will be shut out of the U.S. market. (read more)

As noted by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, all of the global trade partners would do themselves a favor if they did not react emotionally with increased countervailing duties.

The currently outlined U.S. reciprocal tariffs represent a ceiling amount levied. The goal is to lower the tariffs to zero by eliminating all trade barriers. If the EU raises their baseline tariffs, the only thing that happens is the U.S. side increases at the same proportion. The higher von der Leyen goes in her tariffs, the higher the U.S. countervailing duty applies.
The table of each country’s tariffs can be seen at the link.

Posted by:The Walking Unvaxed

#3  'Charges filed against Orban as EU Judge explains that the law requires jackets with 2 buttons on even number months.'
Posted by: swksvolFF   2025-04-03 17:02  

#2  Apoplectic is good. Silent would be better.
Posted by: ed in texas   2025-04-03 14:11  

#1  Orbán to Netanyahu: 'ICC is not a court of the rule of law; it's a political court'
Posted by: Grom the Affective   2025-04-03 13:09  

00:00