Europe hopes for Trump’s rates but prepares for the worst

European leaders were preparing for the Trump Trade War – but the reality of a 20% US blanket’s tariff still came as a shock.

“This decision is a disaster for the economic world,” said French Prime Minister Francois Bayro.

“The consequences will be acute for millions of people around the world,” said EU commission head Ursula von der Leyen, who was on a trip to Central Asia.

An EU message, which is tasked with responding on behalf of its 27 Member States, is that Europe is ready to negotiate with the United States, but at the same time is planned to move back.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sephkovic aims to speak tariffs with his colleagues in the United States on Friday.

“We will act in a calm, carefully gradual, uniform way as we calibrate our answer, while allowing adequate conversation time,” he said.

For every European country, President Donald Trump’s tariffs will be a heavy blow and national governments are trying to alleviate fears of industry and trade.

Italian Georgia Meloni – who seemed more unochy than others to take revenge in kind against the United States – cleared his diary and quickly called for ministers and business leaders at an emergency meeting.

Italy exports 1.6 billion euros (1.35 billion pounds) to Agrifood Products and EUR 2 billion per wine for the United States, said Alessandro Apollito of the BBC’s main organization of farmers.

In addition to economic losses, he says there is a risk that US users will turn to imitations, capturing a market share that would otherwise go to authentic Italian products.

In Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has rejected Trump’s claim that the EU imposes 39% tariffs on goods in the United States, demanding in fact that it is only 3%.

“This is just an excuse for the punishment of the countries and the application of sterile protectionism. The trade war will affect everyone, but it will hit the one that will impose it most,” he warned.

The Spanish Chamber of Commerce is afraid of a 14% reduction in exports to the United States, especially in machines and electrical equipment. Sanchez has announced a 14.1 billion reply plan to help finance business and look for new markets outside the US.

Slovakia is more exposed to most EU countries due to its heavy reading of industrial exports, and some economists have warned of a deep decline in economic production of at least 2.5% in just two years.

Poland Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned of a potential 0.4% decline in his economic production this year.

Even before Trump’s announcement, the French government revised the expected growth this year to 0.7%.

In particular, the French wine and spirits sector is likely to be struck. The head of one of the main wine organizations, Jérôme Bauer, warned of a net loss of € 1 billion (£ 835 million) of the French wine industry.

Italian winemakers also hold their breath.

“We have stopped exports for almost two weeks. Everything has been paralyzed as customers are not placing orders and importers do not import,” says Stefano Leone of Marchey Antinori, a winery in Tuscany with over six centuries history.

The United States represents 12 to 13% of total sales, and Leone says the company is in a limb state.

“We expect to understand what decisions to make, depending on all the oppositions that the European Union can accept in response to the United States. We hope that some form of negotiations will be held and will lead to a specific result.”

The attitudes in the markets of Europe were Glum as investors sold shares considered to be the most vulnerable to Trump’s rates. One of the large German companies, Adidas, saw that 12% of their value wiped off the stock exchange.

Small companies, as well as large, will be hit.

“This is the first year we started exporting to the United States. Our tariffs affect us even more directly,” says Rocco Manarina, who runs a small family business producing 20,000 bottles of olive oil in Sicily.

“Just a week ago we sent our first 900 bottles to the US market.”

French government spokesman Sophie Primas said that “we are ready for this trade war”, but added that “the European) Union must be strong, it should be united for it.”

The largest economy in Europe, Germany, quickly called “an unprecedented attack on the international trade system, free trade and global supply chains.”

But Germany is still waiting for the chancellor waiting for Friedrich Mertz to form a government so that the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz would point out that “the strongest domestic market in the world with 450 million consumers” has given power to Europe.

So how will the EU react and can it remain united?

He has already stated a measured answer.

From mid -April, the first EU tariffs worth up to 26 billion euros will be mold in goods in the United States, avenging 25% US rates for steel and aluminum exports to the EU, which have already been announced in March. They were returned to give space for an agreed decision. If they move on, they will cover a wide range of agricultural, food and textile goods.

Currently, discussions are being held with an even bigger package of counteraction measures that should enter at the end of April.

According to von der Leyen, Europe “holds a lot of cards.” The more current measures not only include American goods, but also potentially its digital services.

Trump complains about the US trade deficit with the EU, but with services, the US has a trade surplus of 109 billion euros with the EU, according to Brussels.

If the EU decides to impose tariffs or restrictions on major technological services or to limit US access to public contracts, it can use what some have indicated its “big bazuka” – more Drug -known as a tool for combating coefficient (ACI).

This will need a majority of EU Member States, but it is a powerful weapon when the European business is threatened.

Peter Dige Tacesen, head of geopolitics in the Danish board of the industry, told the BBC that Trump “threw a hand grenade straight into global trade, creating great insecurity.”

He said US tariffs would hit the smallest companies that export the most in the United States. While the EU had to react in proportion, he said he had to continue negotiating in order to avoid a deeper trade war.

While the bigger part of European leaders quickly condemned US tariffs, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Shijarto raised the blame in the EU’s feet. The leader of Hungary, Victor Orban, is widely regarded as Trump’s largest ally in Europe.

“Again, it has been proven that in Brussels, incompetent people are leading European institutions, which also suffer from very serious Trump-fobri,” Szijjarto said.

Although Norway is not an EU Member State, Prime Minister Jonas Gach’s store said the US decision to impose a 15% tariff is a “bad news”, which will have consequences for many Norwegian companies and jobs.

Norway is mostly an exporter, and Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg fears that he can be hit by a “triple pressing”. Not only from Trump’s tariffs and the lower growth, but also from the EU counteraction.

This can be a trade war with many victims.

Additional reporting from Julia Tomasi in Rome.