EU threatens US planes and whiskey while pressing for deal

Brussels plans to target US goods including planes, cars and whiskey if trade talks with Washington fail, according to a list seen by AFP on Tuesday, as the bloc renewed its push for a deal.

Trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic was to talk to US counterpart Jamieson Greer Tuesday, a day after speaking with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

The European Commission said that Brussels was still hopeful for a "good outcome" in the tariffs standoff.

US President Donald Trump threw a curveball into months of EU-US negotiations at the weekend when he announced he would slap a 30-percent levy on the bloc's goods from August 1 if no deal was made.

Until Trump's ultimatum, the EU had been hoping for an accord last week that would stave off higher tariffs and avoid a damaging trade war with its biggest commercial partner.

On Monday, Brussels shared with member states a list of US goods worth 72 billion euros ($84 billion) that could be hit by levies if tariff negotiations fail -- with several capitals urging the bloc to toughen its stance.

The 202-page document, seen by AFP on Tuesday, lists big-ticket items like US-made aircraft, cars, chemicals and electrical equipment alongside sundry other items, such as live bees, camels, parrots, condoms and opium.

Bourbon whiskey, whose targeting faced resistance from France and Italy for fear of reprisals against European wine and spirits, also features.

So are nails, snails, and Christmas trees.

Commission spokesman Olof Gill declined to provide details of Sefcovic's Monday call with Lutnick, but said a technical team from the commission, in charge of trade policy for the 27-nation EU, was heading to Washington "as we speak".

"We are in the most sensitive stage of those negotiations right now, working towards getting an agreement in principle over the line before the deadline," he told reporters.

"We wouldn't be engaging in negotiations if we didn't think those negotiations could lead to a good outcome. So clearly, we think that an agreement in principle, as we have said, is within reach."

The commission's new list of reprisal targets comes in addition to a first package -- worth 21 billion euros -- which it drew up after Trump slapped tariffs on imports of EU steel and aluminium.

That retaliation remains suspended until early next month to allow for more negotiations, and Gill said the EU would not decide on imposing the second round of tariffs before August 1.

Source: AFP