The EU is preparing to impose retaliatory tariffs to secure a better trade deal with Trump

BlockBeats News, June 24th, a senior official warned that ahead of the upcoming negotiation deadline, if the EU wants to strike a good deal, it must make a "credible threat" of retaliation in the trade war initiated by Trump. Two EU officials said that the Chief of Staff to the President of the European Commission told EU country ambassadors last week after the G7 summit that the prospect of a strong response would help convince the U.S. President to reduce the high tariffs imposed on the EU. German Chancellor Merkel also hinted that her government would support taking a tougher stance. She said on Tuesday, "If there is no agreement, we are ready to use various options. We will defend our interests." The Chief of Staff told the ambassadors that the President of the European Commission, von der Leyen, is prepared to escalate negotiations to secure a better deal. He urged them to support a package of tariffs on $95 billion worth of U.S. goods and mentioned that the European Commission is also preparing measures for the service industry—including taxing U.S. tech companies and restricting U.S. firms' access to public procurement contracts. One official said the message conveyed was, "We need to leverage through a credible rebalancing plan." (FXStreet)