Officials from the European Union said on Thursday that they would delay their retaliation against President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs — including 50 percent levies on American whiskey and other goods — until the middle of next month.
The move is meant to give officials time to refine the list of products that will be hit while also allowing more time to strike a deal with the United States, said Olof Gill, a spokesman. The first wave of E.U. tariffs was originally set to kick in on March 31, with a second wave coming a few weeks later.
The postponement could allow officials to reconsider whether they want to impose such big tariffs on sensitive products like bourbon. And it comes as Europe tries to prevent its trading relationship with the United States — arguably the globe’s most important — from devolving into a tit-for-tat trade war that costs consumers and companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
“The E.U. and the U.S. enjoy the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world,” Maros Sefcovic, the bloc’s trade commissioner, said during a speech in Brussels on Thursday. “It should be a priority for both sides to protect and further develop this relationship.”
Mr. Sefcovic, who is in charge of negotiating trade matters for the E.U., talked to his American counterparts by phone last week. He said on Thursday that he had learned that the Trump administration did not want to negotiate on trade until after April 2, when the United States is expected to announce a new and even more sweeping round of tariffs on its global trading partners.
“For them, this should serve as a base line for redefining and rebuilding U.S. trading relations with the rest of the world,” Mr. Sefcovic said. “Only then may partners be able to engage on possible negotiations.”