EU suspends countermeasures on American tariffs for 90 days

BRUSSELS – The European Commission decided on Thursday to pause for 90 days the countermeasures against American tariffs on aluminum and steel after U.S. President Donald Trump decided on Wednesday to halt the application of reciprocal tariffs, also for 90 days.

“While we finalize the adoption of EU countermeasures that have received strong support from member states, we will put them on hold for 90 days,” announced European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

“We want to give negotiations a chance. If the negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will come into effect,” von der Leyen emphasized.

She added that work on further countermeasures continues and that “all options remain on the table.”

EU member states approved on Wednesday the European Commission’s proposal to introduce trade countermeasures against American tariffs on aluminum and steel.

Three lists of products were adopted on which counter-tariffs should start being charged, but this is now all paused for 90 days.

The first list concerns products agreed upon back in 2018 during Trump’s first term, with the exception of bourbon and whiskey, valued at 3.9 billion euros. It was announced on Wednesday that tariffs would start being charged on this list of products on April 15.

Tariffs on the second list of products valued at 13.5 billion euros were supposed to start being charged from May 16, and on the third list of products valued at 3.5 billion euros from December 1.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he would pause reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, while increasing tariffs on imports from China. Reciprocal tariffs have been paused for about 60 countries at various rates, and the tariff rate has been reduced to 10 percent for all.

The sudden change occurred less than 24 hours after new U.S. tariffs on imports from dozens of countries, trade partners of the United States, came into effect. (April 10, 2025)