\u201cShould it become necessary, the EU has the appropriate instruments at its disposal,\u201d Forissier said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
French officials said it was too early to speculate on an EU response but options included the \u201ctrade bazooka\u201d, an Anti-Coercion instrument (ACI) that could affect US technology companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The ACI has a broad range of powers from export controls to tariffs on services as well as excluding US companies from EU procurement contracts.<\/p>\n
There is also a suspended package of retaliatory tariffs on more than \u20ac90bn of US goods that could be deployed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Forissier said Trump\u2019s threats had forged EU unity but the bloc had to be prepared to retaliate. \u201cWe cannot any longer be naive,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to use our tools and not just speak about them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to be dependent. We don\u2019t want to be some sort of hostage.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European parliament\u2019s trade committee is on Monday likely to postpone further the ratification of a trade deal agreed with Washington last year.<\/p>\n
Bernd Lange, chair of the committee, said he would recommend a pause \u201cuntil we have a proper legal assessment and clear commitments from the US side\u201d. <\/p>\n
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he hoped and expected that the tariff burden on Germany would ease after the court\u2019s decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Speaking on Saturday before Trump increased additional tariffs from 10 to 15 per cent, Merz said that he would raise his concerns on a visit to Washington in early March while also co-ordinating closely with the EU.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to try to make it clear to the American government that tariffs harm everyone \u2014 they don\u2019t benefit some and harm others,\u201d he\u00a0told the German broadcaster ARD.<\/p>\n
Merz described the court decision as \u201creassuring\u201d, adding: \u201cThe separation of powers in the US still seems to be functioning. And that\u2019s good news.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tariff increases come despite evidence that they contribute to price rises and damage US companies reliant on imports.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fabio Panetta, governor of the Bank of Italy, told a conference in Venice on Saturday: \u201cInitially, the impact was absorbed by US firms\u2019 profit margins, and was then partially passed on to consumers, who now bear about half of it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Panetta added that \u201coverall, tariffs are estimated to have contributed just over half a percentage point to inflation, which remains above the Federal Reserve\u2019s target\u201d, at 2.4 per cent in January.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s trade ministry said that it was \u201cstudying all these developments for their implications\u201d.<\/p>\n
Recommended<\/p>\n
The US and India announced a framework for an interim trade agreement in February after months of stalled negotiations. <\/p>\n According to the agreement, India\u2019s US tariff burden would fall from 50 per cent \u2014 one of the highest in the world \u2014 to 18 per cent after New Delhi agreed to open its economy to imports of most American industrial goods and some food products.<\/p>\n On Friday, Trump said that when it came to India, \u201cnothing changes, they\u2019ll be paying tariffs, and we will not be paying tariffs\u201d.<\/p>\n Advisers to the Japanese government said that the Supreme Court\u2019s decision would overshadow a summit in Washington next month between Trump and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, but was unlikely to derail it. <\/p>\n![\"Container](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/https:\/\/images.ft.com\/v3\/image\/raw\/https%3A%2F%2Fd1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F456551.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n