EU-US relations: EU ready to respond to higher U.S. tariffs with own measures - by Michael Nienaber

The European Union wants to avoid a trade war with the United States but the bloc is ready to defend its interests and respond to any unilateral U.S. decisions with countermeasures, German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Thursday.

"I believe that wars are generally not a good idea, and that trade wars are not a good idea either, because at the end, everyone will lose," Altmaier said on a ZDF television talk show.

"Therefore, the goal and interest is that we avoid this trade war," Altmaier said, adding that the EU wanted to solve the dispute with the United States by agreeing on lower tariffs.

However, if Washington decides to impose higher tariffs unilaterally, Brussels will respond with its own measures, "so that everyone knows that we protect and defend our own interests," Altmaier added.

Read more: EU ready to respond to higher U.S. tariffs with own measures - Germany | Euronews

China’s EU envoy urges tough line against Trump’s trade policy- by Ruth Berschens & Till Hoppe

The Chinese ambassador to the European Union favored a confrontational style against Donald Trump’s protectionist course to show the US president’s policies are wrong. “China will fight back firmly,” Zhang Ming said.

“A policy of compromise or appeasement would only be counterproductive,” Zhang Ming said. “We must have the determination to show the initiator of the trade war that this is a wrong thing and it cannot go ahead.”

Indeed, the Asian country fired back immediately on Friday, hitting US shipments of soybeans and cars imported into China after Donald Trump’s administration had slapped a 25 percent levy on $34 billion of Chinese goods entering the US.

China would do everything possible to prevent a trade war, the Chinese diplomat said. “But if the threat is actually turned into reality, and the trade war is imposed on us, China will fight back firmly as well.”

Read more: China’s EU envoy urges tough line against Trump’s trade policy