EU fears trade war if Trump reelected – Bloomberg — RT World News
Brussels is reportedly assessing the potential economic damage, should the Republican return to the White House
The European Union is preparing for a potential trade war with the United States if Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing an unnamed official within the bloc.
The source told the business news agency that the European Commission is working on a formal economic assessment of how Trump's victory would affect member states, without providing details of Brussels' possible response.
In a separate article based on interviews with Trump campaign insiders, Bloomberg reported that his administration would impose a tariff of at least 10% on imports from the European Union, as is the case for China.
Another proposal involves retaliation for taxes imposed by Brussels on digital services in the past few years, which targeted US tech giants such as Meta and Amazon. The sources explained that the countermeasure will be launched under the provisions of the 1974 Trade Act, which Trump deployed during his first term to address trade imbalances with foreign countries.
Trump's presidency has been locked in a row with the European Union over the US trade deficit and what he saw as European reluctance to side with Washington against China. Last year, President Joe Biden's administration only partially reversed the tariffs imposed by Trump on European steel and aluminum. European officials are reluctant to respond to this decision, even though they consider these measures unfair “Because of concerns that this might help Trump’s election chances.” Bloomberg noted.
Biden is seen as less aggressive than Trump in EU capitals. In a rare note on US domestic politics last May, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz publicly expressed his preference for the Democrat to remain in office.
However, the newspaper said that some of Biden's policies upset the Europeans, especially the $390 billion subsidy program to support green technology included in the 2022 inflation reduction law. This money provided incentives for European manufacturers to move their production to the United States.
At the time, members of the bloc were struggling to adapt to rising energy prices following their self-imposed break with cheap Russian sources. More expensive US LNG has replaced most of the share previously held by Russian supplies.
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