EU needs 'decisive' measures if no 'fair' US tariff deal: Berlin

BERLIN: The European Union will need to take “decisive” action to counter US tariffs if no “fair” deal is reached with Washington to avert threatened levies, Germany’s finance minister said on Sunday.

Lars Klingbeil told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that “serious and solution-oriented negotiations” with the US were still necessary, but added that if they fail, the EU will need “decisive counter-measures to protect jobs and businesses in Europe”.

On Saturday US President Donald Trump announced that the EU and Mexico would be targeted with steep 30 percent tariffs as of August 1.

In the case of the EU, he cited the US’s trade imbalance with the bloc as justification for the new levies.

Klingbeil said the tariffs would have “only losers” and “threaten the American economy at least as much as businesses in Europe”.

He said that “Europe remains determined and united: we want a fair deal.”

“Our hand remains outstretched, but we won’t accept just anything,” Klingbeil said, and added that contingency measures in the case of no deal “must continue to be prepared”.