The EU this week said it plans to retaliate against President Donald Trump’s decision to increase tariffs on steel and aluminum. “Unjustified tariffs on the EU will not go unanswered,” European Commission President Ursula Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “They will trigger firm and proportionate countermeasures.”

The U.K. updated its trade sanctions license this week to clarify certain situations wherein its Department for Business and Trade won’t issue an import license. The guidance said traders must apply for an import license before the goods are transported to the U.K., and the government won’t grant a license if an application is made for goods already at the U.K. border. It also won’t issue a license if the goods are “otherwise held in storage in the U.K. prior to making a customs declaration,” the guidance said. “It is a criminal offence to import sanctioned goods without the necessary” license.

The U.K. extended the antidumping and countervailing duties on folding e-bikes from China for another five years, so they are applied until January 2029, the Department for International Trade announced. The department chose to extend the duties only on folding e-bikes, despite the original duties applying to all e-bikes from China. The antidumping duties range from 10.3% to 70.1%, and include a 62.1% margin for all non-individually examined exporters. The countervailing duties range from 3.9% to 17.2%, and include a 17.2% rate for all non-individually examined exporters.

The European Commission is considering exempting more than 80% of companies that otherwise would be subject to import tariffs under the bloc’s upcoming Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said this week. Hoekstra said the EU has found that the law may disproportionately target companies that aren’t responsible for most carbon emissions.

The European Commission is pushing for new import fees and customs controls on certain low-value e-commerce imports that it said are unsafe, counterfeit or don’t meet other EU product standards. The controls could target products from online marketplaces such as AliExpess, Amazon, Shein and Temu, the commission said, adding that those companies could be liable for the sale of unsafe products on their platforms.

The EU-Chile Interim Trade Agreement entered into force following Chile's ratification of the deal, the European Commission announced last week. It said the deal will boost bilateral trade and investment between the two partners by eliminating tariffs on 99.9% of EU exports, ensuring "more effective and sustainable flow of raw materials," and including an "Energy and Raw Materials chapter" that will give the EU access to "critical raw materials such as lithium, copper as well as clean fuel like hydrogen." The agreement will be supplemented by "ongoing initiatives," such as the "development of critical raw materials value chains for lithium and copper, and the Production of Green Hydrogen in Chile," the commission said.

Maros Sefcovic, EU commissioner for trade and economic security, said he’s confident the EU will be able to successfully defend its countervailing duties on electric vehicle exports from China after Tesla's Chinese subsidiary and BMW sued the bloc earlier this month (see 2501280015).

The EU is proposing new tariffs on certain imports of agricultural products and nitrogen-based fertilizers from Russia and Belarus, part of a push to reduce dependencies on products from the two countries. The potential tariffs would target the “15% of agricultural imports from Russia in 2023 that had not yet been subject to increased tariffs,” the European Commission said. “Once adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, all agricultural imports from Russia would be the subject of EU tariffs.”

The U.S. and the EU should launch a new “ambitious agenda” to address trade and technology challenges posed by China, including streamlining the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council and building on sanctions and export controls, the Center for European Policy Analysis said this month.

Tesla's Chinese subsidiary, Tesla (Shanghai), and BMW both filed suit against the European Commission in the European Court of Justice after being hit with countervailing duties by the EU in October on their electric vehicle exports (see 2410290031). The bloc imposed a 7.8% duty rate on Tesla, while BMW received the 20.7% CVD rate assigned to other cooperating respondents. Other Chinese electric vehicle exporters, including BYD, Geely and SAIC, also were hit with the duties. Neither Tesla nor BMW has made any further filings or pleadings in their cases after filing their actions in the top European court. Neither company responded to requests for comment.