Brussels has said that it will continue to campaign for low tariffs in the wake of a court ruling against the aggressive US tariff policy.
The European Commission is in close contact with the US government to find out how it now intends to react, a spokesman said on Friday.
“Businesses on both sides of the Atlantic depend on stability and predictability in the trading relationship. We therefore continue to advocate for low tariffs and to work towards reducing them,” the spokesman said.
The US Supreme Court ruled just over an hour earlier that US President Donald Trump had overstepped his authority when he invoked emergency legislation to impose extensive tariffs on trading partners – including the European Union.
The judgement means that Trump’s far-reaching tariffs lack a legal basis.
Trump’s team had already announced that, in the event of a defeat before the court, it would seek another legal basis in order to continue enforcing the tariff policy.
A German member of the European Parliament, Bernd Lange, said the ruling would affect the trade agreement signed in the summer between the EU and the US.
“Since a large part of the so-called reciprocal tariffs are based on the now contested legal basis, neither the US government nor the European Union can simply go back to business as usual,” said Lange, who is chairman of the European Parliament’s trade committee.
He called a special meeting of the parliament’s negotiating team and legal service for Monday.
The agreement provides for the duty-free import of US industrial goods.
In return, the US had committed to limiting tariffs on most EU imports to a maximum of 15%. As a result, tariffs on cars, for example, were reduced.