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These countermeasures, which the bloc had adopted in response to tariffs imposed by Trump on steel and aluminum, had been paused to allow for talks and are due to snap back automatically at midnight on Tuesday.
'At the same time, we will continue to prepare further countermeasures so we are fully prepared,' von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday, while reiterating the EU's preference for a 'negotiated solution.'
The current list of countermeasures would hit around €21 billion ($24.5 billion) of US goods, while the EU has another one ready of around €72 billion.
Von der Leyen also said that the EU's anti-coercion instrument, the bloc's most powerful trade tool, won't be used at this point. 'The ACI is created for extraordinary situations,' she said. 'We are not there yet.'
Trump has been sending out letters to trading partners, tweaking his proposed tariff levels from April and inviting them to further talks. In a letter published Saturday, the US President warned the EU would face a 30% rate next month, if better terms can't be negotiated.
The EU had sought to conclude a tentative deal with the US to stave off higher tariffs, but Trump's letter punctured the recent optimism in Brussels over the prospects for an 11th-hour agreement between the major economies. The bloc's ambassadors are scheduled to meet Sunday to discuss the trade situation.
An extension of the suspension of countermeasures will need to be approved by member states.
Cars and tariff levels on agriculture have emerged as key sticking points between the European Union and the US as the two sides work toward a provisional trade agreement in the coming days, Bloomberg reported previously.
The EU is seeking a tariff no higher than 10% on agricultural exports. An offset mechanism that some carmakers had pushed as a way to grant tariff relief to companies in return for investments in the US isn't under consideration for now amid worries from the EU it could shift production across the Atlantic.
The bloc's negotiators are focusing talks on car tariffs instead, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
--With assistance from Jorge Valero and Alberto Nardelli.
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