By Julia Payne
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union could hit the United States with counter-tariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) worth of U.S. goods if the two sides fail to reach a trade deal by Washington’s August 1 deadline for imposing import levies.
The European Commission has prepared two sets of possible counter-tariffs, which would be combined into one and submitted for approval to EU members. They would not be imposed until August 7.
Here is a breakdown of the two packages:
EU COUNTERMEASURES TO STEEL, ALUMINIUM TARIFFS
* EU members agreed a first package in April, but the measures were immediately suspended.
* The package hits imports of U.S. goods worth 21 billion euros and is designed as a response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium.
* The package sets a 25% tariff on most of the imports, but some goods like diamonds would be hit by a lower duty of 10%.
* The products include a range of agricultural goods: poultry, beef, fruit, cereals such as wheat, barley and oats, vegetable oils, corn (maize), rice and orange juice.
* Other goods include home appliances such as dishwashers and vacuum cleaners, sanitary products like toilet paper and dental floss, and larger items like motorcycles and motor boats.
* Soybeans and almonds are on this list, but would not be impacted until December 1.
EU COUNTERMEASURES TO BASELINE, CAR TARIFFS
* The second package is designed to respond to so-called “reciprocal” baseline tariffs, which U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to raise from 10% to 30%, as well as to tariffs on cars and car parts, currently set at 25%.
* The proposal was reduced to additional import duties on 72 billion euros of U.S. goods from an initial 95 billion euros.
* No tariff level has been set.
* The package targets 6.4 billion euros of agri-food products and 65.8 billion euros of industrial goods.
* Industrial items in the package include aircraft and aircraft parts, cars and car parts, machinery, chemicals and plastics, medical devices and electrical equipment.
* Food items in the package include bourbon, other spirits, wine, farm animals, bees, tobacco and pet food.
* 159 items were deleted from the initial list after a public consultation, according to a Reuters comparison of the two lists.
* Industrial products removed include all gas turbines, most magnets, all laboratory reagents, some photographic film, musical instrument strings, and some equipment related to semiconductors and data storage.
* Removed food products include soya bean seeds, pure-bred breeding horses and bovine semen.
($1 = 0.8530 euros)
(Reporting by Julia Payne and Milan Strahm. Editing by Philip Blenkinsop and Mark Potter)
