European leaders have gradually mobilized to restart trade talks with the US administration and to avoid the imposition on August 1 of 30% surcharges on all their exports, as announced by Donald Trump in a letter dated Friday, July 11.

On July 14, Maros Sefcovic, the trade commissioner who leads negotiations on behalf of the 27 member states, stated after a meeting in Brussels with external trade ministers that such a surcharge would have dire consequences: "Trans-Atlantic supply chains would be heavily affected on both sides," adding: "I will definitely do everything I can to prevent this super negative scenario." To that end, negotiations are necessary, while also preparing retaliatory measures, the EU trade ministers insisted; there are, however, differences among the countries.

"So we want a deal, but there's an old saying: 'If you want peace, you have to prepare for war,'" said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU. There should be no "taboo" in the standoff with Washington, added Laurent Saint-Martin, the French minister for external trade, echoing Emmanuel Macron, who had suggested as early as Saturday to "speed up the preparation of credible countermeasures, by mobilizing all instruments at [their] disposal, including the anti-coercion mechanism, if no agreement is reached by August 1."

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