The Digester

EU warns it will respond firmly to any US breach of tariff deal

Mar 13th 2026

Brussels has asked Washington for clarity after the U.S. opened Section 301 trade probes into overproduction and forced labor and warned it will act if last year’s EU-U.S. tariff deal is breached.

  • EU says it will respond firmly and proportionately to any violation of the EU-U.S. tariff agreement.
  • U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer announced new probes into global overproduction and imports made with forced labor.
  • Brussels will seek clarification from Washington on how the Section 301 investigation interacts with last year’s tariff deal.
  • The EU says it shares concerns about structural overcapacity but that the sources are not in Europe.
  • A February U.S. Supreme Court ruling found Trump lacks authority under a 1977 law to impose tariffs, but the administration later imposed 10% tariffs.
  • The European Parliament’s trade committee is due to vote next week on removing tariffs on U.S. industrial goods as part of the EU’s implementation steps.

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