EU preparing to introduce tariffs on $20bn of US goods – commissioner

The European Union Commission is preparing to introduce tariffs on $20 billion of US goods if Washington imposes trade levies on imported cars, according to European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom. “We hope that it doesn’t come to that... If not, the EU Commission is preparing a rather long list of many American goods,” she told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter on Wednesday. Any new European tariffs will not be directed at specific US states, Malmstrom said. “Now it’s more general goods such as agricultural products, machinery, high-tech products and other things,” Reuters quoted her as saying.