“We have to somehow avoid taking off the table any instrument, we have the proper tools, the necessary tools to respond, so none of them should be discarded at this point,” he told Bloomberg Television. “We’re open to negotiations, we’re open to trade, but we will not be naive.”
All EU retaliation tools against US on table, Spanish minister Cuerpo says
07 Apr 2025, 05:44 pm
Spanish Minister for Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo (Photo by Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg)
(April 7): The European Union (EU) needs to be open to all potential means of retaliation against US tariffs, according to Spanish Minister for Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo.
Cuerpo was speaking from Luxembourg, where EU trade ministers will seek on Monday to narrow their differences over countering Donald Trump’s escalating tariff war, which has ravaged global markets.
With no sign that the US president might back down, the bloc may explore concessions, even as it works to finalise retaliatory steps to strengthen its hand at the negotiating table and be ready to hit back if talks fail. Part of the problem is that the Trump team doesn’t know what it wants, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic told envoys on Friday in a closed-door meeting.
Some European officials are concerned a tit-for-tat trade conflict is unavoidable. France over the weekend suggested one response could be regulating the use of data by big American tech platforms.
“We need to find the right balance in our response at this point and need again to be cool headed,” Cuerpo said. “First, it is a message of, of course lines are open, we want to negotiate. But in case we are not able to actually reach that point, we are ready to enter into using our instruments, which go as you know from the tariffs to a wider set of instruments that could also reach other elements, not only goods.”
Speaking to reporters on his way into the trade ministers’ meeting, Austria’s Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer struck a similar tone, saying that while negotiations are the “top priority”, should such talks fail, taxes on tech companies would be an option. Similarly, Robert Habeck of Germany said the EU should consider using its anti-coercion instrument.
Not everyone agreed, with Artjoms Ursulskis of Latvia saying that services shouldn’t be targeted. Meanwhile Poland’s Michal Baranowski, who is chairing the meeting, highlighted the need for urgent talks with the US.
“It’s very clear that there will be no winners in this confrontation,” he said. “So far, the approach that we have seen is perhaps a little bit too much shoot first, talk later. I hope that we can switch to negotiations as soon as possible, serious negotiations with the United States because again, the transatlantic economic relationship is the biggest one in the world.”
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron urged companies to pause investments in the US.
According to Cuerpo, such a push isn’t needed because “businesses and firms will be discouraged by the uncertainty”. He added that the EU needs to send a signal to citizens and firms that the EU will protect them.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez last week announced plans for €14.1 billion (US$15.6 billion, or RM69.84 billion) of aid and financing, in response to the tariffs imposed by the US. Cuerpo said on Monday that there should be an “EU leg” to such support.
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