The EU will delay its retaliatory tariffs on US goods for 90 days, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
The move matches the length of President Trump’s pause in implementing like-for-like tariffs on several countries.
“We took note of the announcement by President Trump,” von der Leyen said in a statement. “We want to give negotiations a chance.”
“If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in,” she added, noting that work on the countermeasures is still in process and that all options are still on the table.
As my colleague Ben Wershkul noted, Trump pivoted on trade again on Wednesday, saying he would authorize a 90-day pause on his reciprocal tariff plans for all countries except China.
That means EU goods will face lower US duties, going from a rate of 20% to the 10% baseline that went into effect on April 5. The easing came even after the bloc approved its counter-tariffs on $23 billion in US goods earlier on Wednesday, but Trump said the EU will get a reprieve because those levies hadn’t gone into effect yet.
