The EU is preparing to hit Silicon Valley in response if US President Donald Trump implements his threats to introduce tariffs against the Union. As FT writes, the EU may first apply the combination mechanism for coercion (ACI), which some officials call the "

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The European Commission can use its instrument against coercion in a potential dispute with Washington, two officials told the publication, which will allow us to aim at American services, in particular, large technological companies (Big Tech).

One of the officials says that all options are considered, and ACI is the most rigid answer that can be applied without violation of international law.

The ACI tool, which was developed in the first time of Trump and was used as a restraining factor against China, allows the EU executive authorities to introduce restrictions on trading services if it is determined that the country uses goods tariffs in order to encourage political changes.

According to officials, Trump's threat to use tariffs to force Denmark to “give” to the USA Greenland and put it on the EU to refuse measures against American technological companies, falls under this category.

ACI allows the EU to choose options from a wide spectrum of response measures, such as the abolition of the protection of intellectual property rights. The mechanism also allows the EU to block foreign direct investment or limit access to the market for banking, insurance and other financial groups.

Another official, however, warned that although the EU copes well with the tariffs for goods, the Union can still evade the expansion of the dispute to new areas, including the trade in services and intellectual property rights.

Last week, Trump promised to introduce tariffs against the EU, referring to Brussels against American technological companies and a large trade deficit in the trade in goods. He did not provide details about when these measures are realized and whether the EU will be able to agree on a delay, as Canada and Mexico did.

EU ministers on Tuesday, February 4, met in Warsaw to discuss threats of the US president. Officials who participated in the discussion behind closed doors said that most of the participants in the meeting supported punitive response, if necessary.

EU Commissioner Morosh Shefchovich said that he wanted to negotiate how to avoid tariffs.

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At the same time, some EU countries are afraid to unleash a trade war when economic growth is so weak.

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Any response should be proportional, and the European Commission should provide evidence of the harm caused by the EU industry. She must also receive approval of at least 15 of 27 member countries. Consultations can take several weeks; The latest return tariffs introduced against the United States in 2018 were accepted within three months. Canada and Mexico, for example, announced their own measures against the United States last week - within a few hours after the Washington decision to introduce 25% tariffs. Trump suspended tariffs against both countries in exchange for obligations to fight the flows of illegal migrants and drug trafficking.

France Minister Laurent Saint-Martin told Financial Times that, despite the ACI, the EU may require faster response measures.

One of the European diplomats said that the EU could quickly act in a crisis.

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Trump made tariffs one of the key foreign policy instruments of his second period in the White House. About how the ambitious goals of the new US president will affect the economy and finances of the States, Washington's alliances and international trade, Vladimir Korneev reasoned in the article " Will the \? ”And Alexey Kush in the article“ America against all. The USA is preparing for the new trade era "