European Union officials meeting Tuesday in Brussels repeated what is becoming a familiar line in the 27-country trading bloc: If President Trump picks a trade war, it will cost everyone involved.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has been reiterating that the United States and Europe are deeply intertwined, both socially and economically.
“The trans-Atlantic partnership has been the cornerstone of peace and prosperity for the best part of the century,” Ms. Von der Leyen said during a speech to diplomats, hours after Mr. Trump imposed new tariffs on China while putting levies against Canada and Mexico on hold. “The point is that a lot is at stake for both sides.”
She and other European officials have increasingly thrown out statistics to back up their point. Together, the European Union and the United States represent almost 30 percent of global trade in goods and services, Ms. Von der Leyen reminded her viewers on Tuesday. European companies in the United States employ 3.5 million Americans.
“There are jobs, businesses, industries here and in the U.S. that rely on the trans-Atlantic partnership,” she said.
The idea that trade conflicts are not painless has been a common theme in recent days, as Europe prepares for the tariffs that Mr. Trump has repeatedly warned are coming. Mr. Trump told the BBC late Sunday that tariffs “will definitely happen with the European Union” and could come “pretty soon.”
For now, Europe does not know what that would look like. Officials from its 27 member nations are in constant contact with various officials in Washington, but trade policy is evolving minute-by-minute, and while Mr. Trump has specifically said that he wants Europe to buy more American cars, farm products and gas, the actual details and timing of any levies are highly uncertain.
“From our side, we’re not aware of any additional tariffs being imposed on E.U. products at this time,” Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Union, said on Tuesday.
Unlike in Mr. Trump’s first term, when tariffs caught Europe by surprise, this time officials have been planning quietly behind the scenes, drawing up basic principles and responses to hypothetical scenarios. They have kept the details of those plans largely secret to avoid giving up strategic advantage in negotiations.
“I can only say we are prepared,” Ms. Von der Leyen said during a news conference late Monday in Brussels, when asked whether she was ready to fend off tariff increases from the new administration.
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