EU seeks unity in first strike back at Trump tariffs

European Union countries will seek to present a united front in the coming days against US President Donald Trump's tariffs, likely approving a first set of targeted countermeasures on up to $28 billion of US imports from dental floss to diamonds.

- AGENCIES

Such a move would mean the EU joining China and Canada in imposing retaliatory tariffs on the United States in an early escalation of what some fear will become a global trade war, making goods more expensive for billions of consumers and pushing economies around the world into recession.

The 27-nation bloc faces 25 per cent import tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars and "reciprocal" tariffs of 20 per cent from Wednesday for almost all other goods.