Tariff crisis Trump's tariff policy

Information: EU prepares countermeasures – 30 percent on US goods

The EU is preparing 30 percent tariffs on US goods worth 100 billion euros, equivalent to 1,115 billion Swedish kronor, if an agreement with the US is not reached. This is stated by a spokesperson for the European Commission to Bloomberg.

As a first wave of countermeasures, the EU could combine an already approved list of tariffs on US goods worth 21 billion euros, and a previously proposed list of additional goods worth 72 billion euros, into a package.

US goods that could be affected by the tariffs include Boeing aircraft, American-made cars and bourbon.

The plan has been drawn up at the same time as several EU countries, including Germany, have called for increasingly tougher action against the US. Germany has, among other things, said that they are willing to support the implementation of the EU's so-called "anti-coercion instrument".

Sources: EU-US deal nearing completion – exemptions proposed

The EU and the US are close to a trade deal that would impose 15 percent tariffs on European goods exports to the US, diplomatic sources told the Financial Times, Reuters and Bloomberg.

According to the sources, the deal would be similar to the US-Japan deal announced earlier today.

The imminent deal would include both parties removing tariffs on certain sectors, such as the aerospace industry, alcoholic beverages and medical equipment, according to the report. US tariffs on vehicles imported from the EU would be reduced from 27.5 percent to 15 percent.

Despite signs that a deal could soon be in the offing, the EU is continuing to work on its response package of tariffs on US goods worth 93 billion euros, equivalent to over 1,000 billion kronor.

Analysis: Donald Trump's Psychology Brings Tariff Results

US President Donald Trump has turned the narrative of the trade war around by using psychologically high tariff threats. According to CNN's David Goldman, it is an impressive feat to raise tariffs on the country's most important trading partners and then have the world applaud the deals that win.

"He achieved it with old-fashioned psychology: setting the bar so high for potential tariff pain that anything below that bar appears like a win," he writes.

Axios is on the same track and believes that Trump has changed the psychology of the trade war.

"Both financial markets and manufacturers have come to accept that double-digit tariffs are the new reality. And they have concluded that it is not so bad, considering that it could be worse," they write.