Armed truce on tariffs: new EU countermeasures worth 72 billion

The holster remains closed, but the shots are counted. Still reeling from an agreement that - by the public admission of chief negotiator Maros Sefcovic - 'seemed close', Europe has opted for a semi-armed truce. The anti-coercion bazooka, evoked for months as a last resort, remains a warning and the second list of counter-demands is taking shape. Albeit lightened with diplomatic care in order to hit the made-in-U.S.A. bigwigs up to 72 billion euro. A 'calibrated' pressure not to blow up the table and, at the same time, not to be caught unprepared by the no deal.

On the other side of the Atlantic, however, Trump marches on without a second thought, relaunching the narrative of the great plunder. "The United States has been robbed by friend and foe, in trade (and military!), for decades," he thundered again, relaunching his promise to "do what's right for America." A lunge blunted later by a hint of the possibility of 'dialogue'.

"The feeling was that we were close to a win-win deal," Sefcovic acknowledged as he welcomed the relevant ministers of the Twenty-Seven in Brussels, aligned in the same sentiment of "regret and disappointment" over the tycoon's letter. The 30% rate is seen as 'prohibitive' for transatlantic trade. But while consensus still reigns among governments on the new stop to the first 21 billion retaliation, the impatience of some with Ursula von der Leyen's soft line has begun to filter through. Leading the intransigent faction is Paris, which, through the mouth of Minister Laurent Saint-Martin, has called together with Vienna for Big Tech to be put in the crosshairs. "There must be no taboos in the European response," the Frenchman scolded, recalling that the 'balance of power' was triggered by Trump himself. And The Donald's goal "does not seem to be harmony", Austrian Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer recoiled.

Instead, counterbalancing the pressure are Rome - represented at the table by Undersecretary Maria Tripodi, while Minister Antonio Tajani flew to Washington to meet Marco Rubio - and Berlin which, reading in the White House tenant's missive a negotiating move, continue to preach prudence. "This is not a boxing match," Minister Francesco Lollobrigida also warned from Brussels, stressing the risk of an escalation that would end up striking the same European companies twice. The 1 August deadline is just over two weeks away and Europe, Sefcovic assured, 'will not leave without having made a concrete effort'.

Already visible in the new exchange that the EU Trade Commissioner himself has had with his US counterparts Howard Lutnick and Jamieson Greer, although there are fears in the EU institutions that not even they can really steer Trump's negotiating mood. At the heart of the dossier remains a hanging question: what is the lesser evil for Europe, considering that the 10% minimum target with discounts on strategic sectors seems difficult to achieve. European concessions are already on the table: from American LNG to support for the star-studded defence industry. Italy, in Lollobrigida's proposal, also suggests increasing imports from overseas of protein sources such as soya.