Peanut butter, orange juice among EU's targets in event of trade war with US

BRUSSELS: The European Union (EU) said today it would hit flagship US products including peanut butter, orange juice and bourbon whiskey with counter measures if US President Donald Trump goes ahead with threatened steel and aluminium tariffs.
The blow by Brussels came hours after Trump’s trade offensive brought the resignation of his top economic adviser Gary Cohn, an influential former Goldman Sachs banker who fiercely opposed the measures.
EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said a full-on transatlantic trade war was “not in anybody’s interests” – a stark contrast from Trump, who last week declared trade wars were “good and easy to win”.
“A trade war has no winners,” Sweden’s Malmstroem told reporters after the European Commission, which handles trade matters for the bloc, discussed the tariffs.
“We should be very careful with that word ... there are only losers in that, and that’s why we will respond in a proportionate and balanced way.”
In Luxembourg, European Council president Donald Tusk hit back at Trump, saying “trade wars are bad and easy to lose”.
He also proposed that EU leaders hold an emergency debate on the trade dispute at a summit in Brussels on March 22 and 23.
“President Trump has recently said and I quote, ‘trade wars are good and easy to win’,” Tusk told a press conference in Luxembourg, flanked by Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel.
“But the truth is quite the opposite: trade wars are bad and easy to lose,” the former Polish premier said.
Tusk warned Trump’s plans could lead to “a serious trade dispute” between Washington and the rest of the world involving the EU.
The EU is holding fire on its reprisals as Trump has yet to sign into effect his plan to set tariffs for what he calls unfair competition for US industry, but Malmstroem said a list of products had been drawn up including steel, industrial and agricultural items.
“Certain types of bourbon are on the list as are other items such as peanut butter, cranberries, orange juice,” she said.
Malmstroem said the EU was still trying to persuade Washington not to go ahead with the tariffs, which she said would threaten “thousands of European jobs”.
The EU is also looking at “safeguard” measures to protect its industry – restricting the bloc’s imports of steel and aluminium to stop foreign supplies flooding the European market, which is allowed under World Trade Organisation rules.
Meanwhile, in Washington, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the United States is not seeking a trade war and the decision to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports was “thought through.”
“We’re not looking for a trade war,” Ross told the CNBC cable network.
“We’re going to have sensible relations with our allies,” he added, arguing that a jump in steel prices could be avoided with increased domestic production of the commodity. – AFP