Description

The EU has rever­ted to offer­ing the US tit-for-tat tar­iff reduc­tions on cars, while pre­par­ing a list of poten­tial levies includ­ing on Amer­ican digital ser­vices as part of pos­sible retali­ation if trade talks with Wash­ing­ton fail.

Under the latest pro­posal from EU nego­ti­at­ors, the bloc would drop its 10 per cent duties on US car exports if the White House reduced its own levies on the sec­tor below 20 per cent.

The move is an attempt by Brus­sels to address the biggest stum­bling block to a EU-US frame­work deal after Don­ald Trump’s tar­iff assault. The US pres­id­ent has said he will hit the bloc with 30 per cent tar­iffs from August 1.

Two people famil­iar with the talks said the US lower­ing its car tar­iffs to a total of 17.5 per cent was being act­ively con­sidered if the EU went to zero.

Maroš Šefčovič, EU trade chief, is in Wash­ing­ton for dis­cus­sions with his US coun­ter­parts, but if talks on goods fail, then the bloc is con­sid­er­ing expand­ing the trade war to ser­vices.

That would come on top of a pro­posal for retali­ation against €72bn of annual US imports that EU coun­tries are already dis­cuss­ing.

A per­son famil­iar with the latest pro­posal said it would include levies on digital ser­vices. Ursula von der Leyen, com­mis­sion pres­id­ent, threatened this action in an inter­view with the Fin­an­cial Times in April, when she said: “An example is you could put a levy on the advert­ising rev­en­ues of digital ser­vices.”

The US has a defi­cit in goods with the EU but a sur­plus in ser­vices. 

1.

revert

词性：动词
意思：恢复原状，回复（到先前的状态或行为）
常见搭配：

revert to type（恢复本性）

revert to someone（回复某人）

例句：

After trying a new strategy for a few weeks, they reverted to their original plan.

他们尝试了几周的新策略后，又回到了最初的计划。

The system will revert to its default settings if no input is given.

如果没有输入，系统将恢复为默认设置。

语气说明：带有“倒退”“退回”“放弃新尝试”的感觉，有时略带无奈或负面。

2.

tit-for-tat

词性：名词或形容词短语
意思：针锋相对，以牙还牙；你做了我就也做同样的事（报复意味）
常见用法：

tit-for-tat strategy（报复性策略）

engage in tit-for-tat retaliation（进行报复性反击）

例句：

Their trade war turned into a tit-for-tat escalation of tariffs.

他们的贸易战演变成了你加我也加的关税报复。

The children got into a tit-for-tat argument.

孩子们陷入了一场你一句我一句的争吵。

语气说明：往往用于描述冲突、对抗行为，有“你来我往、互不相让”的意味，略显低效或情绪化。

3.

stumbling block

词性：名词
意思：障碍，绊脚石（使人难以推进事情的因素）
常见搭配：

a major stumbling block

a stumbling block to progress

例句：

Lack of funding remains the biggest stumbling block for the project.

资金不足仍是这个项目最大的障碍。

His attitude is a stumbling block in our negotiations.

他的态度是我们谈判的一大障碍。

语气说明：常用于正式语境中，比喻“进展路上的绊脚石”，可大可小，但通常不是致命打击，而是必须解决的问题。