European trade ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday, following US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of 30 per cent tariffs on the European Union. The EU is America’s biggest business partner and the world’s largest trading bloc. The US decision will have repercussions for governments, companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.

“We shouldn’t impose countermeasures at this stage, but we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools in the toolbox,” said Denmark’s Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, told reporters ahead of the meeting. “So we want a deal, but there’s an old saying: ‘If you want peace, you have to prepare for war’.”

The tariffs are set to start on August 1 and could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US, and destabilise economies globally.