EU prepares for retaliation on Trump tariffs, but hopes for agreement

The European Union will continue to prepare retaliatory action after Donald Trump said the United States would impose a general 50 per cent tariff on all European imports in a week's time, a threat that brought the threat of a full-blown transatlantic trade war closer than ever. But Brussels will continue to seek agreement with the US on tariffs. The hope in Brussels, senior sources said, was that the shock announcement by the US president was simply a ploy to gain leverage in the talks between the two sides. [ 'We do not need to go down this road': Taoiseach…