The European Union is looking to strike large technology in the US export campaign

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The European Union is considering hitting US service exports, including Big Tech, to take revenge on Donald Trump, which imposes a 25 percent tariff for the automotive industry and promised another round of measures next week.

Brussels has already revealed additional duties on up to 26 billion euros of American goods after Washington imposed a tariff of steel and aluminum. But officials and diplomats said The work scale by the Trump administration He was asked to think about using more powerful commercial tools.

The bloc enjoys extensive powers to suspend intellectual property rights and exclude companies from public purchasing contracts under the organization of its enforcement, which was strengthened in 2021 after a commercial conflict with the first Trump administration.

“The Americans believe that they are the ones who have the dominance of escalation (in the trade war), but we also have the ability to do this,” the European Union diplomat said, adding that the goal was eventually to get rid of a comprehensive trade deal.

Fightback can include restrictions on the intellectual property of major technology companies. Another example is to ban Starlink satellite network from Elon Musk from winning government contracts. Italy is already Reconsider whether the system is acquired.

“The services are the place where the United States is at risk,” another diplomat said. Washington ran a 109 billion euros in trade surplus With the European Union in services in 2023, compared to a deficit of 157 billion euros in goods.

European Union officials believe that the Trump administration will not be ready to negotiate until after the United States has set up a tariff wall that would prove that it is serious to secure better conditions than the commercial partners who have been claimed to have benefited from its open market.

European officials hope to eventually make a rapid progress in an agreement, but they even admit that this will not remove all the additional definitions that Trump imposes.

“The opinion is that we have to respond. It is the only way to obtain a deal,” said the third European Union diplomat. “We tried to speak.”

Since the European Union exports exceed its imports, the bloc will struggle to suit the customs tariffs on the goods. Brussels also does not want to stop gas supplies from the United States to the continent.

“There are many imports of commodities from the United States so that the European Union can target before the economy harms too much,” said David Henig, of the European Center for International Political Economy. “If you don’t want to target energy, there is an end to what can be done on the goods. While there is a greater room for revenge without great harm to the economy.”

Some experts say that to catch more economic pain on the United States, the European Commission will need to use it Arch Control Tool (ACI), which is called “Bazooka Trade”.

This tool can restrict American bank activities, abolish patents, or prevent companies that receive revenues from software updates or broadcasts.

“I would like to advise the European Commission to use ACI,” said Ignacio García Bercero, a senior official in the previous committee who led negotiations on a commercial deal for trade and investment in Atlantic.

Any reprisal measures will be placed by the committee by the committee, but must be approved by the likely majority of member states.

European Union countries are still negotiating the revenge list of goods that have been set in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum definitions; France pressed to remove the borbon whiskey to avoid the repercussions of its drink industry.

The committee has postponed the measures, which also covers jeans and motorcycles and possibly soybeans, until April 12. It will be discussed with national leaders before a final agreement.

Diplomats and officials said that there is room for more customs tariffs for commodities in response to any American “mutual” tariff that will be adopted By the White House next week Brussels expects to be About 20 percent. Aircraft, chemicals and pharmaceutical products can be hit.