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The European Union will pause its countermeasures to President Donald Trump's sweeping international tariffs after he announced a 90-day pause on the levies, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on her X account Thursday (April 10).
The announcement came one day after EU members voted in favor of a package to retaliate to the 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum launched by the U.S. last month. The decision was scheduled to be finalized in the coming days and the initial tranche would've gone into effect on April 15, prior to Trump's announcement to pause the tariffs for 90 days.
The items included have not yet been publicly published, however, CNBC reports that they include clothing, poultry, grains and machinery.
"We took note of the announcement by President Trump. We want to give negotiations a chance. While finalising 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. Preparatory work on further countermeasures continues. As I have said before, all options remain on the table," von der Leyen said.
Trump previously announced that the U.S. would impose trade barriers on American exports as part of sweeping "reciprocal" tariffs on other countries, which he dubbed "Liberation Day," before announcing a pause on Wednesday.
"For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far. ... Foreign leaders have stolen our jobs, foreign cheaters have ransacked our factories and foreign scavengers have torn apart our once beautiful American dream," Trump said during his initial 'Liberation Day' announcement via Yahoo! News.
"But it is not going to happen anymore," he continued. "Reciprocal — that means they do it to us, and we do it to them. Very simple. Can't get any simpler than that."
The United States stock market experienced a significant downturn as the tariffs and trade wars were initiated, seeing the largest decline since the 2020 stock market crash influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic during Trump's first of two non-consecutive presidential terms. The stock market rose by more than 9% after the announced tariff pause, however, dropped once again Thursday (April 10) morning, according to CNBC.