European Officials Approve Retaliatory Tariffs Against the U.S.

The European Union voted on Wednesday afternoon to approve its first retaliation measures in response to President Trump’s tariffs, moving closer to placing increased duties on a range of manufactured goods and farm products including soybeans and corn.

The new tariffs would take effect in phases starting on April 15, and would affect more than 21 billion euros ($23.5 billion) worth of goods.

The final list responds to Mr. Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs and is a slightly trimmed-down version of one that was announced in mid-March.

The E.U. did not immediately publish an official version of the final tariff list, but one had been circulating among member states before the vote. Tariffs would range from 10 to 25 percent, based on that document, and would apply to a wide range of products including foodstuffs including peanut butter and manufactured goods like hair spray.

E.U. officials have spent recent weeks consulting with policymakers and industries from across the 27-nation bloc in an effort to minimize how much the countermeasures would harm Europeans.

The final list is expected to exclude bourbon, for instance, after Mr. Trump threatened to place a 200 percent tariff on all European alcohol in response to its inclusion. That would have been a crushing blow for wine producers in France, Italy and Spain.

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