File Image: The welding worker is making a steel tube in HCC, a company that uses parts to make it combine the factory in Mendota, Illinois, United States, February 21, 2025.
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European consumers face higher prices on elements from cars to jeans, while major industries including steel, retail and agriculture are wrestling with low competitiveness and increased operational costs with high trade tensions between the White House and Brussels.
On Wednesday, the European Commission announced that it would discuss US President Donald Trump Newly impose – but Prolonged – 25 % blanket tariffs on aluminum and steel imports in the United States.
It is scheduled to reach 26 billion euros (28.3 billion dollars) of the European Union (28.3 billion dollars) of goods, as the new US tariffs will be applied at a value of $ 28 billion in European goods.
European Union officials have drafted a 99 -page document, seen by CNBC, and narrated specific American elements under consideration of the customs tariff in Brussels. It includes a wide range of goods, of agricultural products, home appliances and plastic materials to alcohol and fashion clothes, along with steel, aluminum and their derived commercial products.
Trump On Wednesday suggested You can follow more counter -measures for the United States, saying that he will respond to the work of the European Union and that “everything they receive for us, we bear them.” Another development came on Thursday, like Trump A 200 % tariff threatened On wine, champagne and other alcoholic products that come out of France. The president previously suggested that he could carry out a 25 % blanket tariff on European Union imports, criticizing the bloc for unexplained unfair trade practices.
CITI analysts said in a memorandum on Wednesday that there is unlikely that there is a major impact on the macroeconomic economy announced, as the targeted goods represent only about 5.5 % of non-energy imports in the region from the United States-but there may be an indirect effect by increasing uncertainty in business and consumers.
Fast price effect
European sectors include what is about to join in the tense tensions of cars – which already shakes from New duties between the United States, Canada and Mexico – Minerals, construction, lives, luxury goods, consumer goods, retail, food producers, agriculture and pharmaceutical preparations.
“The European Union’s definitions will increase the costs of” a group of manufacturers, not the least of which are auto and food producers companies Tin from beans.
She added: “There are only many manufacturers that can absorb them, and the car giants seem to face a double uproar for high costs and cautious consumers, who are not interested in exiting large ticket elements amid uncertainty.”
The influence on consumers will be quickly as companies pass with higher costs to support margins, according to the Katz bracelet, the chief investment official of the wealth management company Robertson Stevens, who expect price increases to be visible by the time when European Union measures enter April 1.
“The European Union’s tariff for American grains, such as corn and soybeans, may disrupt animal feed supplies, which negatively affects the competitiveness of the livestock sector in the European Union,” Catz told CNBC.
“The broader impact includes disturbances to provide chains and economic uncertainty for American import industries. The main sectors such as steel and agriculture may face higher operational costs, reduce competitiveness, and potential job losses.”
All this comes while the new customs tariff imposed by the United States on steel and aluminum imports of supply chains of the European Union and causes losses to European producers, adding that the American definitions on products such as French Cognac and cosmetics may endear exports and functions. It can target Trump’s tariff in the future as well Pharmaceutical Export European Union Cats said countries like Ireland and Denmark are trade with the United States.
Beating
in statement Wednesday, Commercial Authority Spiritseurope criticized the European Union’s revenge for the Trump tariff.
The organization, whose members are 30 national societies and major companies such as Johnny Walker-Maker Diago Jack Daniel producer Bani ForemanShe said that the news came in “a difficult time for the life sector”, which was witnessing “a remarkable slowdown in many major markets.”
And she warned that if it was implemented on April 1, the European Union’s tariff on American spirits “will have a significantly harmful effect on European Union companies that produce the morale of the United States (and) American companies invested extensively in Europe … display many of the jobs they support.”

In sectors such as luxury and retail goods, companies’ impact depends largely on the specified company and its supply chains, according to JIE Zhang, the luxury sector analyst at Alphavalue, for CNBC.
Luxury products are directly affected by higher definitions between the European Union and the United States because they are often made in Europe. Zhang said that even when the supply chain is created in Asia, the final product is often stored and shipped from Europe, adding that a company like Louis Vuitton has a production site within the United States, as it is born about half of local revenues.
Likewise, Zhang, a retailer like Zara Malik Inditex It will be protected through its business model, with more than half of its sources and production of goods that take place in neighboring countries. However, a company like a retail seller online Asos It has a lot of its supply chain in Asia and has limited flexibility, as well as large exports to the American market that will be affected.
Uncertainty prevails
Amid intense political quarrels, there is still a possibility that the customs tariff will be dropped, reduced or intensified.
Certainly, the bloc “strongly regrets” the Trump administration’s approach to trade, noted the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Layen, on Wednesday that the European Union is still “ready to engage in a meaningful dialogue” with the United States
“For American stocks, companies participating in consumer and industrialists will be more influenced, with the fact that a significant increase in the prices of many of these goods in Europe will force consumers there to buy alternatives from within the euro area or anywhere else,” said Michael Field, his strategy in Morningstar.
“For European stocks, the more worrying the equation is what is the next. It is very likely that the United States will explode, and impose a wide range of definitions on European goods. It should be related to European auto manufacturers, as well as chemical materials manufacturers, as well as consumer companies in spaces such as alcohol.”
Ross Mulded, AJ Bell investment manager, pointed out that for investors, it was very difficult to determine how to display the customs tariff in reality. Suggest The best strategy may be not to try to guess their second, adhere to strong public budgets and strong competitive positions.
He told CNBC: “Defense shares are still rising, and industries including well renewable energy sources, perhaps in the opinion that Europe will need to restore tools and increase self -sufficiency in many regions and parts of the supply chain.”
“In contrast, retailers, sports equipment sellers, luxury goods and drug shares are left behind.”
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