BRUSSELS — The European Union has paused its counter-tariffs against the United States to further pursue talks with Donald Trump's administration on how to resolve what, until a few hours ago, was shaping up to be an all-out trade war.

The counter-tariffs, imposed in reaction to Trump's duties on steel and aluminum, were approved on Wednesday by member states, targeting almost €21 billion in American products, such as soybeans, copper and motorbikes.

The first raft, worth €3.9 billion, was supposed to go into effect on 15 April.

But this will no longer be the case.

"We want to give negotiations a chance," Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said in a short statement.

"While finalizing the adoption of the EU countermeasures that saw strong support from our Member States, we will put them on hold for 90 days," she added.

"If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in."

Von der Leyen's decision comes just hours after Trump announced his self-styled "reciprocal tariffs" will be paused for 90 days.

The bloc had been initially hit by a 20% rate under these sweeping tariffs, which the Commission had dismissed as "neither credible nor justified."

Following Trump's reversal, EU imports to America will be slapped with the baseline 10% rate. Steel, aluminum and cars will remain subject to a separate 25% rate.

Von der Leyen noted that internal work to prepare "further countermeasures" would continue, signaling deep uncertainty about Trump's commercial policies.

"As I have said before, all options remain on the table," she said.

Earlier on Thursday, von der Leyen doubled down on her proposal for a "zero-for-zero" tariff deal on all industrial goods, which the American president had previously rejected. — Euronews