The European Union continues to want an agreement on duties, but with US requirements increasing, it is preparing to react.

US officials told the EU Commercial Head last week that they are expecting President Trump to demand further concessions from the bloc to reach an agreement, including a basic duty for most European products that could be 15%.

This has caused an unpleasant surprise to the EU, which worked for an agreement that would keep the basic duties at 10%, a hard concession for some of its 27 countries. This displacement prompted Germany, Europe’s largest economy and its largest exporter, which was previously milder than US retaliation, to approach France’s most aggressive position, according to people close to discussions.

EU counterattack

Now, the EU Member States are pushing the block of the block to prepare new and powerful measures to counteract US companies, in addition to the reciprocal duties on goods, if a deal cannot be reached by August 1st.

“All options are on the table,” a German official said Friday, saying that there is still time for a deal, adding meaningfully, that “if they want war, they will take war.”

The impetus to increase potential countermeasures marks the EU’s counterattack after months of negotiations to save the world’s largest trade relationship. According to EU figures, more than $ 5 billion of goods and services are trafficked daily between the two economies.

The European Commission, which is responsible for Block’s commercial policy, said on Sunday that it wants a mutually beneficial agreement and that it is still actively involved in the negotiations. But if no contact point is found, all options remain on the table, a Commission spokesman said.

On Sunday, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik expressed his optimism to reach an agreement with the EU. “I am sure we will reach an agreement,” CBS’s face the nation show.

In the months of Trump’s duties, EU Commercial Head of EU Maros Sefcovic has visited Washington a few times. Sefcovic has said that Europe was willing to reduce duties and buy tens of billions of dollars of US energy products and advanced semiconductors.

Earlier this month, Trump threatened 30% of imports of most EU imports from the EU, from the 20% he had proposed for the first time in April.

Even German officials, who were pushing for a quick agreement, no longer regarding it as the most likely result.

Anti -coercion

On Friday, Berlin showed that it could support the EU to use the so -called anti -coercion medium, a legal tool that allows the bloc to repay financial bullying with a number of trade restrictions and investment. Has never been used in the past.

EU officials regard this tool as the most powerful block of bloc and a last resort. European Commission President Ursula von der Layen said earlier this month that the medium was created for emergency situations “and we are not there yet”.

This estimate may change. The Commission is already preparing measures that could be introduced by using the anti -coercion medium, people who have been informed of the matter said. Following Washington’s return to Sefcovic, more Member States are now ready to use the tool.

The measures being prepared include possible contributions or other restrictions on US digital services and restrictions on US companies’ access to the Block Public Procurement Market.

This would also be the measures already prepared by the EU. The EU had earlier drafted two tariff packages aimed at US exports to the block worth more than $ 100 billion, from airplanes to peanut butter and whiskey, though they have not come into force. The second package still needs official signature from the Member States, but both could be activated quickly if needed, officials in the Wall Street Journal said.

European officials and Member States continue to hope that an agreement is possible. The block does not intend to launch retaliation before the Trump deadline on August 1, and the preparation of measures that could be introduced using the anti -coercion medium does not necessarily mean that the tool will be used.

But everyone is preparing for a possible battle that, as they acknowledge, could have a heavy cost for both sides in a commercial relationship valued in trillions of dollars.

The agreement that the two sides approached earlier this month would see the EU offered to increase the markets of US energy and semiconductors and accept a 10% basic duty for most goods.

Some goods were still subject to negotiation, people who know the conversations said. These goods included the areas that would be excluded from the basic duty and relief that the European automotive industry could receive from the 25% duty it is facing today.

Until recently, the EU was optimistic. While other US trade partners had received letters describing higher duties that would soon face, Sefcovic said on July 9, “our negotiations escaped the EU from tackling higher duties.”

Three days later, Trump posted on social media a letter threatening the block with a 30% duty on August 1.

Sefcovic traveled to Washington last week to try to figure out if a deal was still possible.

While US trading representative Jameson Green said that the main duty of 10% negotiated by both sides still made sense, Lutnik suggested that the levy should be higher, a European diplomat said. Sefcovic left meetings with the belief that the US was pushing for a 15% basic duty or more.

It was also informed that US duties in the block of the bloc is expected to remain at the current level of 25% and that duties for pharmaceuticals could be ejected to 100%.

The change of attitude of Germany

France and some other EU countries have long been pressing the EU to take a tougher stance on the US, while Germany had encouraged the block to pursue a rapid, preliminary agreement with Trump.

Germany initially estimated that the Trump letter for 30% was a last -minute trick to get better terms. Finally, when she learned about the pressure on US officials last week in the EU to receive higher basic duties and no reduction in her automotive sector, she was convinced of using retaliation.

Member States now have to determine how many more concessions would be willing to make a deal and what countermeasures they will receive in the event of the negotiations fail, he said on Friday EU diplomat.