How Europe Could Fight Back Against Trumps Tariffs

In the escalating trade war with the United States, European officials are discussing imposing barriers on imports of U.S.services with a trade weapon that could allow the bloc to place restrictions on Big Tech and Wall Street.“We have the power to push back,” Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said this week.President Trump has already announced tariffs on aluminum, steel, cars and auto parts, moves that could seriously hobble the bloc’s shaky economy.

Brussels has responded by announcing that it would reimpose levies on U.S.imports like Harley-Davidson motorcycles, whiskey and other goods, some of which were targeted during the trans-Atlantic clash Mr.

Trump instigated in his first term.To counter Mr.Trump’s latest reciprocal tariffs, European officials are weighing deploying a policy tool called the anti-coercion instrument, which some refer to as a “bazooka.” The instrument, which was adopted in 2023 to hit back at China but never used, is seen as a last resort option if talks with the Trump administration go south.Brussels could use the tool to go after America’s tech giants and financial institutions.

One preliminary plan that has been circulating in recent weeks includes a nuclear option: limiting American banks’ access to the E.U.’s enormous public procurement market, which would mean partly cutting off the banks from projects worth roughly 2 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion) each year.Another idea in the plan is to target the huge sums that Europeans invest in American companies annually, a roughly €300 billion annual flow that has become a point of irritation for E.U.officials.

And finally, the preliminary plan reads, Brussels “could also increase tax and regulatory pressure on American digital platforms.”The plan didn’t make clear the scope, let alone how either proposal might be put in place.But it showed how broadly policymakers are thinking as the bloc weighs its approach.“I personally think the big b...