EU threatens US planes and whiskey while pressing for deal
Brussels, Belgium
Brussels plans to target US goods including planes, cars and whiskey if trade talks with Washington fail, according to a list seen by AFP on Tuesday, as the bloc renewed its push for a deal.
Bourbon whiskey, whose targeting faced resistance from France and Italy for fear of reprisals against European wine and spirits, also features.
So are nails, snails, and Christmas trees.
Commission spokesman Olof Gill declined to provide details of Sefcovic’s Monday call with Lutnick, but said a technical team from the commission, in charge of trade policy for the 27-nation EU, was heading to Washington “as we speak”.
“We are in the most sensitive stage of those negotiations right now, working towards getting an agreement in principle over the line before the deadline,” he told reporters.
“We wouldn’t be engaging in negotiations if we didn’t think those negotiations could lead to a good outcome. So clearly, we think that an agreement in principle, as we have said, is within reach.”
The commission’s new list of reprisal targets comes in addition to a first package — worth 21 billion euros — which it drew up after Trump slapped tariffs on imports of EU steel and aluminium.
That retaliation remains suspended until early next month to allow for more negotiations, and Gill said the EU would not decide on imposing the second round of tariffs before August 1.
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© Agence France-Presse
