Brussels is prepared to respond to the United States’ latest tariffs, France’s Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier told the Financial Times on Saturday.
Paris is in talks with European Union partners and the European Commission after US President Donald Trump decided to impose a flat global tariff.This came after the US Supreme Court ruled that many of his earlier tariffs on trading partners were illegal.
“Should it become necessary, the EU has the appropriate instruments at its disposal,” Forissier told the FT.
According to French officials quoted by the newspaper, the EU’s possible response could include the so-called “trade bazooka,” officially known as the anti-coercion instrument (ACI). This tool could affect US technology companies. The ACI allows the EU to take different steps, including export controls, tariffs on services, and even blocking U.S. companies from EU public procurement contracts.
The report also said that the EU could activate a previously suspended package of retaliatory tariffs on more than 90 billion euros ($106 billion) worth of US goods.
Supreme Court strikes down Trump’s tariffs
In a major setback for Trump, the Supreme Court of the United States on Friday struck down tariffs he had imposed under a law meant for national emergencies.
In a 6–3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court ruled that Trump had gone beyond his authority by using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify the tariffs. The justices agreed with a lower court that the law did not give the president the broad power he claimed to impose trade duties. The ruling is seen as a landmark decision with major consequences for the global economy.
Trump strongly criticised the decision and the judges who ruled against him. He called it “terrible” and “totally defective.” Speaking at the White House, he said he was “ashamed” of certain members of the court for lacking “the courage to do what’s right for our country.”
Trump raises global tariffs to 15%
Soon after the ruling, Trump announced that he had approved a global 10% tariff on all countries. “It is my Great Honor to have just signed, from the Oval Office, a Global 10% Tariff on all Countries, which will be effective almost immediately,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
However, on Saturday, he increased the global tariff rate to 15%. On Truth Social, he wrote, “Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been “ripping” the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.”