BRUSSELS, July 14, (AP): European trade ministers are meeting in Brussels on Monday, following US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of 30% 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, also imposed on Mexico, are set to start on Aug 1 and could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the U.S., and destabilize economies from Portugal to Norway.

Meanwhile, Brussels decided to suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month. The "countermeasures” by the EU, which negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries, will be delayed until Aug. 1.

Trump’s letter shows "that we have until the first of August” to negotiate, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday. Maroš Šefčovič, the EU's trade representative in its talks with the U.S., said negotiations would continue "I’m absolutely 100% sure that a negotiated solution is much better than the tension which we might have after the 1st of August," he told reporters in Brussels on Monday.

"I cannot imagine walking away without genuine effort. Having said that, the current uncertainty caused by unjustified tariffs cannot persist indefinitely and therefore we must prepare for all outcomes, including, if necessary, well-considered proportionate countermeasures to restore the balance in our transit static relationship.”