gotchanewsdaily.com 
Even on tariffs, the signals so far are that Starmer will do all he can to avoid retaliating with tit-for-tat measures on imports from the U.S., in the hope that Trump will ultimately make good on his promise to work out a deal with Britain.
Until now, Brussels’ mantra has been to wait and see, with officials insisting there was nothing to be gained from reacting with outrage every time the president made a noise. That line gave way on Tuesday when European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a fiercely worded rebuke to Trump’s proclamations on steel and aluminum.
“Tariffs are taxes — bad for business, worse for consumers,” von der Leyen said. The “unjustified” tariffs Trump has outlined on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” she added.
The Commission president’s statement was welcomed on Tuesday by some of the more hawkish diplomats in Brussels, who want the EU to stand up to the U.S. more firmly.
Later in the day, von der Leyen met U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Paris on the fringes of the AI summit, though whatever they may have discussed about tariffs in private didn’t make it into either side’s public readout of the discussion.
Von der Leyen’s officials have a suite of measures available to them, including rapidly reintroducing tariffs on American exports of goods such as bourbon whiskey, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and cranberry juice.
Brussels imposed these measures after Trump first announced steel and aluminum tariffs in 2018. They were lifted when a truce in the trade war was struck later during Joe Biden’s term.
The EU’s trade ministers will hold a hastily arranged call on Wednesday to discuss the tensions, as von der Leyen’s officials prepare the bloc’s detailed response.
