FILE PHOTO: A worker welds a steel tube at HCC, a company that uses parts to make combines, at the factory in Mendota, Illinois, U.S., February 21, 2025.
Vincent Alban | Reuters European consumers face higher prices on items from cars to jeans, while major industries including steel, retail and agriculture grapple with reduced competitiveness and operational cost increases as trade tensions between the White House and Brussels heat up. On Wednesday, the European Commission announced it would retaliate to U.S.
President Donald Trump's newly imposed — but long-threatened — 25% blanket tariffs on aluminum and steel imports into the United States. The EU's retaliatory measures are set to hit 26 billion euros ($28.3 billion) worth of goods as the new U.
S. tariffs will apply to $28 billion worth of European goods. EU officials have drafted a 99-page document, seen by CNBC, listing specific American items that are under consideration for tariffs in Brussels.
It includes a wide range of goods, from agricultural produce, household items and plastics to alcohol and fashion garments, along with steel and aluminum and their derivative commercial products. Trump on Wednesday suggested more U.S.
counter-measures could follow, stating that he would respond to the EU's action and that "whatever they charge us with, we're charging them." A further twist came Thursday, as Trump threatened a 200% tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic products coming out of France. The president has .
