European leaders warned on Monday that a trade war with the United States would destabilize economies on both sides of the Atlantic, after President Trump amplified his threat to levy tariffs on the European Union.
Many economic and political analysts had for weeks dismissed Mr. Trump’s threats to slap significant tariffs on important trading partners as bluster intended to force negotiation. But the threats look increasingly real, after the president signed executive orders to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and 10 percent tariffs on imports from China.
Those moves have added heft to Mr. Trump’s threats to pursue a trade battle with the European Union, whose nations he has long criticized for not buying enough American cars and farm products.
Mr. Trump told the BBC late Sunday that tariffs “will definitely happen with the European Union” and could come “pretty soon.”
Europe has been preparing for the possibility of a trade war with the United States for months. What was colloquially called a “Trump task force” operated behind the scenes within the European Commission for much of last year, drawing up potential scenarios and responses.
Amid uncertainty over what if any action Mr. Trump will take, European officials in recent days have been clear that they are both watching and preparing.
“I will never support the idea of fighting allies,” Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark, told reporters in Brussels on Monday morning. “But of course, if the U.S. puts tough tariffs on Europe, we need a collective and robust response.”
European policymakers have not yet made clear exactly how they might react. Instead, they have emphasized that the United States is Europe’s most important trading partner and that a trade war would be painful for all involved.
“The E.U. has many partners around the world, but there are none that are as important as the United States,” Kaja Kallas, the E.U.’s top diplomat, said in a speech on Monday morning. “Some of us may not like everything our counterparts say or do there, but that’s democracy — we have to deal with it.”
In a separate appearance, she later added that “there are no winners in trade wars,” and that if the United States and European Union were to get into one, “the one laughing on the side is China.”
European trade ministers were set to discuss relations with Washington at an informal meeting on Monday in Warsaw. They were expected to talk about the principles that should guide Europe’s response to America’s changing approach to trade, according to briefing documents for the gathering seen by The New York Times.
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