<h1>Retaliatory tariffs: EU warns immediate countermeasures and urges dialogue to avoid trade escalation.</h1> The EU rejected threatened broad US import tariffs, warned that a wholesale tariff would prompt immediate, targeted countermeasures, and framed such measures as defensive protection against unjustified trade barriers. It emphasised its status as a large integrated market that promotes harmonised standards and significant two way trade in goods and services, urged dialogue and reciprocity to avoid a trade escalation, and presented trade flow data to underline economic interdependence.