By: Ashley Murray – March 12, 2025
WASHINGTON — The European Union released a lengthy list Wednesday of U.S. goods, from Kentucky bourbon to household appliances, slated for retaliatory tariffs in response to President Donald Trump’s taxes on steel and aluminum imports that went into effect overnight.
The 27-nation bloc announced late Tuesday it plans to impose the countermeasures starting April 1 if the Trump administration does not cool the escalating trade war between the major trading partners.
Trump’s 25% levies on imported steel and aluminum kicked in early Wednesday. The United States is Europe’s largest market for exported steel, totaling roughly 8 billion euros, or $8.7 billion, in 2024, according to European Commission figures.
“The trade relations between the European Union and the US are the biggest in the world. They have brought prosperity and security to millions of people, and trade has created millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic,” said the commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen in a statement.
“We firmly believe that in a world fraught with geopolitical and economic uncertainties, it is not in our common interest to burden our economies with tariffs. We are ready to engage in meaningful dialogue,” von der Leyen also said.
Tariffs fully in place April 13
The EU’s 99-page list of American imports set to be taxed next month includes beer, cosmetics, hardware and metal tools, components for energy pipelines, motorcycles, and hundreds of other products.
The tariffs will be fully in place by April 13, according to von der Leyen, and could affect up to $28 billion in U.S. goods, essentially matching the value of European imports taxed under Trump’s latest tariffs.
Canada quickly followed the European bloc Wednesday in announcing counter-tariffs on the U.S., according to information obtained by The Associated Press.
Canada is the largest foreign supplier of steel and aluminum to American buyers. The U.S. has imported on average $541.8 million worth of steel from Canada each month since March 2024, according to the International Trade Administration.
Trump withdrew a threat Tuesday to double the tariffs on metals from Canada after Ontario agreed to drop a surcharge for three U.S. states that buy electricity from the northern province.
Visit with Irish prime minister
Trump doubled down Wednesday on further taxing EU imports, including cars. During a planned visit from Irish Prime Minister Micheàl Martin to celebrate U.S.-Irish relations in advance of St. Patrick’s Day, Trump told reporters “of course I will respond” to the EU’s anticipated tariffs, according to reporters in the room.
“As you know we’re going to be doing reciprocal tariffs, so whatever they charge us, we’re charging them,” Trump said alongside Martin in the Oval Office.
“If they charge us 25 or 20% or 10% or 2% or 200%, then that’s what we’re charging them,” Trump continued during joint comments to the press.
The visit between Trump and Martin remained light and amicable, and Trump praised Ireland for “quickly” approving a previously planned expansion of his golf resort on the country’s west coast but said he scrapped the project because final EU approval would “take at least seven years.”
Trump also commented that EU lawsuits against the U.S.-based tech companies Apple and Meta are “unfair.” The European Commission is expected to fine the companies for breaking an EU digital markets law. Separately, after a yearslong back-and-forth, Europe’s top court ordered Apple in September to pay Ireland roughly $14 billion in back taxes.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement Wednesday the EU “has opposed the United States’ efforts to reindustrialize” and that its economic policies are “out of step with reality.”
