The EU has reverted to offering the US tit-for-tat tariff reductions on cars, with negotiators abandoning the idea of a complex “netting mechanism” first proposed by German carmakers.

EU trade ministers have agreed that U.S. President Donald Trump’s 30% tariffs announced on the European Union are “absolutely unacceptable,” and they are studying a new set of countermeasures to respond to the move.

One of the European Union’s most reliable punching bags is shaped like a bottle of whiskey. The EU this week circulated to member states a list of products it could hit with tariffs if a trade deal is

BERLIN (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs threaten the American economy at least as much the European one, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said on Wednesday, calling for a "fair deal" with the Americans. "Trump's tariffs have only losers," Klingbeil said.

The European Union is pushing to secure a trade deal with the U.S. ahead of President Donald Trump's Aug. 1 deadline.

The International Monetary Fund has estimated the EU's own internal barriers to the free flow of activity are the equivalent of tariffs of 44% for goods and 110% for services. Mooted reforms such as creating freer cross-border capital markets have made little headway in more than a decade.

EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic will head to Washington on Wednesday for tariff talks, an EU spokesperson told Reuters, adding that he will meet U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

European markets have been on tenterhooks since U.S. President Donald Trump announced last weekend that he would impose a 30% tariff on goods imported from the EU starting Aug. 1. The EU has said it hopes to strike a trade deal before then.