BRUSSELS, April 10. /TASS/. The European Union has frozen tariff countermeasures against the United States for 90 days to "give negotiations a chance," the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on the social network X.
"We took note of the announcement by President Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance. While finalizing the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our Member States, we will put them on hold for 90 days. If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in," she wrote.
Von der Leyen also confirmed that the EU officials will continue to work on the second package of EU tariffs.
On April 9, the EU countries approved the introduction of the first package of tariffs of 25% on a wide range of agricultural and industrial goods from the US. The total amount of imports from the US subject to EU duties is estimated at 21 billion euros per year. The second package of tariffs is to be launched on May 15, and then Brussels intends to continue introducing new duties until December 1. Now this entire process is on hold. On April 9, the European Commission once again stressed that it is ready to abandon tariffs and engage in dialogue with the United States in order to bring all duties to zero on both sides.