EU targets US aircraft and car exports in new list of potential tariffs

The EU is considering imposing tariffs on US aircraft and car exports in a fresh attempt to persuade Donald Trump to drop his current and proposed tariffs against the EU.

If acted up on they will hit Boeing hard but also include further categories of US exports including chemicals, electrical equipment including cameras, health-related products and some foods such as sweet potato and nuts.

At the same time Brussels has launched a consultation with member states on potential litigation against the US over the blanket 20% reciprocal tariffs the US president announced last month.

As the EU prepared for the possibility of a prolonged transatlantic trade war, Trump appeared to have reached an agreement with the UK and softened his position on China.

The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and Washington’s chief trade negotiator, Jamieson Greer, are due to meet China’s vice-premier, He Lifeng, in Switzerland on Saturday for talks that could be the first step toward resolving the trade war between the two countries.

The EU said its new list of potential tariff targets was designed as preparation for a scenario in which some or all US tariffs remained after July – Trump’s deadline for deals.

The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she believed there were “good deals to be made for the benefit of consumers and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic” but added: At the same time, we continue preparing for all possibilities.”

The fresh proposals came just hours before Trump was due to unveil a tariff deal with the UK, and days after the European trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, warned the EU would not be pushed into any unfair trade deal and was preparing “for any scenario” if current trade talks failed.

They are in addition to a list of €21bn retaliatory tariffs announced and then paused by the EU last month, including taxes on Harley-Davidsons, poultry and clothing.

The Seattle-based aircraft company Boeing would be hit hard, but so too would Ireland, already bracing itself for punitive tariffs on pharma exports to the US and potential tax on US tech.

The Irish budget airline Ryanair would face higher capital costs. It has placed about $30bn of orders for 330 aircraft to be delivered through to 2034. On Thursday it threatened to cancel orders and said it would look at alternative suppliers, including the Chinese plane maker COMAC.

Aercap, the world’s largest aircraft leasing company, is also based in Dublin.

If the new EU tariffs were to be imposed, they would enter into force on the date of aircraft delivery, so would affect any advance orders, EU officials have confirmed.

EU officials stressed that they were not pursing a “dollar for dollar” retaliation against the current tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars, but needed to prepare for the potential prospect that some of Trump’s tariffs would remain in the long term.

They also renewed threats to include services, which could include duties on US tech and social media companies from Microsoft to Meta. “It is still an option we have [to include services]. It could be part of the mix,” said one senior source.

Brussels on Thursday launched a four-week consultation until 10 June, with a decision on the exact categories and the rate of potential tariffs to be determined “by the beginning of July”, just days before Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on his universal reciprocal 20% tariff expires.

Officials stressed they did not necessarily envisage a like for like tariffs on sectors like automotive which has already been hit by a 25% Trump tariff.

“We could do higher tariffs on less trade … or we can do lower tariffs on more trade, so there’s various ways to, let’s say, scoop a certain amount of water out of the lake: you can take the same amount of water out of a shallow lake as you can from a deep lake,” said an official.

Previously the EU has said it would pursue “smart tariffs” designed to hit where they hurt – in Republican-voting states and for products that are synonymous with America, such as bourbon.

Aircraft and auto sectors are among the most valuable categories of exports in the new list, with about €10.5bn of US planes sold to EU airlines and aircraft leasing companies in 2024. The US car and car part exports to the EU were worth €12.5bn in the same year, while machinery exports were worth about €12bn.

Also on Thursday’s list were electrical equipment including computer screens, cameras and jukeboxes, worth €7.2bn, and agrifood, worth €6.4bn a year.