EU eyes retaliatory tariffs on $3.5B worth of American goods: report

The European Commission has drawn up a list of retaliatory tariffs that would target about $3.5 billion worth of American goods, according to Bloomberg News.

The list is a response to President Trump’s impending plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum, the news service reported. 

It includes already announced targets such as Levi-Strauss blue jeans, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and bourbon whiskey. It adds items such as shirts, cosmetics, recreational boats, orange juice and corn.

The vast majority of the tariffs would affect U.S. iron, steel and industrial goods, Bloomberg reported.

The European Union is one of the main sources of imported steel to the U.S., and a major destination for American exports.

Its tariffs list is intended as punishment for Trump’s proposed steel tariff alone, according to Bloomberg, which added that a separate list could be drawn up in response to the proposed aluminum tariff.

Trump has yet to finalize the tariffs. Congressional Republicans and business groups have urged him to scale them back or carve out some exceptions to avoid a trade war.