European Union member states are set to vote on Wednesday April 9 on countermeasures to the United States' steel and aluminum tariffs, a senior EU official, said on Thursday.

Austrian Minister of Economy Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer on Thursday urged the European Union to impose retaliatory tariffs on Republican states and technology companies. Vienna suggests that EU countries should respond similarly to the tariffs announced by U.

He punishes each country with "reciprocal measures," approximately half of what he calculates each partner or bloc charges the US in tariffs, subsidies, or bureaucratic and tax barriers. On April 2, 2025,

Northern Ireland risks becoming “collateral damage” in President Donald Trump’s trade wars despite the UK being hit with a lower tariff than the EU, politicians and business leaders have warned. The prospect of a transatlantic trade battle has reignited Brexit tensions in the UK region because of the potential for Northern Ireland to be caught in the crossfire if the EU imposes counter-tariffs on US goods.

Companies in Northern Ireland sell goods valued at around £1.5bn to the US every year, with a concentration in pharmaceuticals and industrial machinery. Northern Irish goods will be covered by the tariff which Trump has imposed on the UK as a whole.

For Scotch whisky makers, the US is its most important overseas market - worth £971 million a year. Anthony Wills runs the Kilchoman distillery on the island of Islay and says he feels "deflated" at the prospect of tariffs.