BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s executive commission said Thursday it will put trade retaliation measures on hold for 90 days to match President Donald Trump’s pause on his sweeping new tariffs and leave room for a negotiated solution.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the commission, which handles trade for the bloc’s 27 member countries, “took note of the announcement by President Trump.”

New tariffs on 20.9 billion euros ($23 billion) of US goods will be put on hold for 90 days because “we want to give negotiations a chance,” she said in a statement.

But she warned: “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in.”

Trump imposed a 20% levy on goods from the EU as part of his onslaught of tariffs of 10% and upward against global trading partners but said Wednesday he will pause them for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate solutions to U.S. trade concerns.

Countries subject to the pause will face Trump’s 10% baseline tariff.

Before Trump’s announcement, EU member countries voted to approve a set of retaliatory tariffs on $23 billion in goods in response to his 25% tariffs on imported steel and aluminum that took effect in March. The EU, the largest trading partner of the U.S., described them as “unjustified and damaging.”

The EU tariffs were set to go into effect in stages, some on April 15 and others on May 15 and Dec. 1. The EU commission didn’t immediately provide a list of the goods.

Members of the EU — the world’s largest trading bloc — have said they prefer a negotiated deal to resolve a trade war that damages the economies on both sides. The bloc’s top trade official has shuttled between Brussels and Washington for weeks trying to head off a conflict. The EU has offered Trump a “zero for zero” deal in which both sides would eliminate tariffs on industrial goods including autos. Trump has said that’s not enough to answer U.S. concerns and raised the possibility of Europe buying large additional amounts of U.S. liquefied natural gas.

The targeted goods are a tiny fraction of the 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion) in U.S.-EU annual trade. Some 4.4 billion euros in goods and services crosses the Atlantic each day in what the European Commission calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world.”

The EU has targeted smaller lists of goods in hopes of exerting political pressure and avoiding economic damage from a wider escalation of tit-for-tat tariffs.

The EU is also working on a further set of countermeasures in response to Trump’s blanket 20% tariff on all European goods, now suspended. That could include measures aimed at U.S. tech companies and the services sector as well as trade in goods.

Still, von der Leyen said that Europe intends to diversify its trade partnerships.

She said that the EU will continue “engaging with countries that account for 87% of global trade and share our commitment to a free and open exchange of goods, services, and ideas,” and to lift barriers to commerce inside its own single market.

“Together, Europeans will emerge stronger from this crisis,” von der Leyen said.

McHugh reported from Frankfurt, Germany

BRUSSELS (AP) — Facing the prospect that the United States might cut them adrift under President Donald Trump, European Union leaders launched a day of emergency talks Thursday in a bid to beef up their own security and ensure that Ukraine will still be properly protected.

Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, and summit chairman Antonio Costa discussed over breakfast in Brussels ways to fortify Europe’s defenses on a short deadline. Merz pushed plans this week to loosen the nation’s rules on running up debt to allow for higher defense spending.

Meanwhile, the 27-nation bloc was waking up to news that French President Emmanuel Macron would confer with EU leaders about the possibility of using France’s nuclear deterrent to protect the continent from Russian threats.

It all underscored the sea change that has taken place in the two months since Trump took office and immediately started upending the cornerstones of cooperation between the United States and Europe that had been the bedrock of Western security since World War II.

“Spend, spend, spend on defense and deterrence. That’s. the most important message,” said Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen.

The call is a sharp departure from decades of decline in military spending in Europe, where defense often came last in many budgetary considerations.

The bloc will “take decisive steps forward,” Macron told the French nation Wednesday evening. “Member states will be able to increase their military spending” and “massive joint funding will be provided to buy and produce some of the most innovative munitions, tanks, weapons and equipment in Europe,” he said.

Adding to the ebullient message, he said that “Europe’s future does not have to be decided in Washington or Moscow.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was attending the summit, received warm bonhomie from most leaders — a stark contrast with the verbal lashing the Ukraine president got from Trump less than a week ago.

“I want to thank all our European leaders,” Zelenskyy said. “Strong support from the very beginning of the war. During all this period, and last week, you stayed with us.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has proposed a plan to loosen budget rules so countries that are willing can spend much more on defense. Her proposal is underpinned by 150 billion euros ($162 billion) worth of loans to buy priority military equipment.

Most of the increased defense spending would have to come from national budgets at a time when many countries are already overburdened with debt.

Part of von der Leyen’s plan includes measures to ensure struggling member states won’t be punished for going too deep in the red if the spending is earmarked for defense.

“Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself,” she said.

France is struggling to reduce an excessive annual budget deficit of 5% of GDP, after running up its total debt burden to 112% of GDP with spending on relief for businesses and consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Five other countries using the euro currency have debt levels over 100% of GDP: Belgium, Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Europe’s largest economy, Germany, has more room to borrow, with a debt level of 62% of GDP.

Part of any security plan is also to protect the increasingly beleaguered position of Ukraine.

A Russian missile killed four people staying at a hotel in Zelenskyy’s hometown overnight. He said that a humanitarian organization’s volunteers had moved into the hotel in Kryvyi Rih, in central Ukraine, just before the strike. The volunteers included Ukrainian, American and British nationals, but it wasn’t clear whether those people were among the 31 injured.

Early this week, Trump ordered a pause to U.S. military supplies to Ukraine as he sought to press Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia, bringing fresh urgency to Thursday’s summit.

Thursday’s meeting is unlikely to address Ukraine’s most pressing needs. It is not aimed at urgently drumming up more arms and ammunition to fill any supply vacuum created by the U.S. freeze. Nor will all nations agree to unblock the estimated 183 billion euros ($196 billion) in frozen Russian assets held in a Belgian clearing house, a pot of ready cash that could be seized.

Still, the Europeans underlined the importance of the moment.

“This is a watershed moment for Europe and Ukraine as part of our European family. It’s also a watershed moment for Ukraine,” von der Leyen said, as she stood alongside Zekenskyy before striding together into the summit.

But perhaps the biggest challenge for the EU will be taking a united stance at a moment when it’s fractured, since much of the bloc’s actions requires unanimous support. Hungary is threatening to veto part of the summit statement on Ukraine, as is Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

“We have to take decisions no matter the one or two which are opposing every time,” said Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda. “Otherwise history will penalize us and we will pay a very high cost.”

Thursday’s summit is unlikely to produce immediate decisions on spending for Ukraine or its own defenses. Another EU summit where the real contours of decisions would be much clearer is set for March 20-21.

AP journalists Sylvie Corbet in Brussels, David McHugh in Frankfurt, Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Illia Novikov in Kyiv contributed to this report.

MUNICH (AP) — European leaders took steps Sunday to answer assertive U.S. efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, as France announced a meeting of continental leaders and Baltic countries called for new steps to strengthen Kyiv’s hand in any future talks.

The jockeying for position by Europe, Ukraine’s top military and financial backer along with the U.S., comes as the Trump administration has quickly sought to mediate an end to the fighting three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

With Moscow’s forces making some territorial gains in eastern Ukraine in recent months, Finnish President Alexander Stubb on the last day of the Munich Security Conference called for “maximum pressure on Russia” through sanctions and asset freezes in the lead-up to any talks.

He laid out three phases: “pre-negotiation,” ceasefire and long-term peace talks.

“The first phase is the pre-negotiation, and this is a moment when we need to rearm Ukraine and put maximum pressure on Russia, which means sanctions, which means frozen assets, so that Ukraine begins these negotiations from a position of strength,” Stubb said.

French President Emmanuel Macron is rallying European leaders, with his foreign minister announcing an emergency “working meeting” on Ukraine’s next steps after recent U.S. announcements.

Speaking to France-Info on Sunday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot sought to project a united front: “A wind of unity is blowing over Europe, as we perhaps have not felt since the COVID period.”

Macron had called for “consultations between European leaders on the situation in Ukraine and the security challenges in Europe.”

He will host an informal afternoon meeting Monday with the leaders of Germany, the U.K., Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, as well as European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

The discussions could continue in other formats, according to the French statement, with the goal of “bringing together all partners interested in peace and security in Europe.”

News reports said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk were among those expected in Paris.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s push for a quick way out of Russia’s all-out war in Ukraine stirred concern and uncertainty in Munich.

After a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin last week, Trump said that he and Putin would likely meet soon to negotiate a peace deal over Ukraine. Trump later assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy he also would have a seat at the table. U.S. officials have indicated that European nations, however, wouldn’t be involved.

“Don’t underestimate Trump as a negotiator. I genuinely believe that Putin is baffled and afraid what might be coming from there,” Stubb said. “Right now, the ball is in our court here in Europe. We need to convince the Americans where’s the value added, and then get back into the table.”

“I think in Europe we need to talk less and do more,” he said later.

President Edgars Rinkēvičs of Latvia, which like Finland borders Russia, agreed that “if we are strong, if we have something to offer … then we are going to be interesting to the United States. If you just continue having those nice conferences, talking and whining, then we are not going to be interesting to our own publics very soon.”

He also noted “a point that probably went unnoticed Friday” in Munich, which was European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s “important announcement” that she would propose a temporary waiver of EU budgetary rules in crisis situations — this time to allow for extra defense spending.

“I can announce that I will propose to activate the ‘escape clause’ for defense investments,” she said. “This will allow member states to substantially increase their defense expenditure. Of course, we will have to do this in a controlled and conditional way.”

The three-day Munich conference was a hub of crisscrossing diplomacy on issues of politics, economics, and defense and security, with top envoys on hand from places as diverse as Syria and Saudi Arabia, and Japan and South Korea, as well as many European leaders.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy called for the creation of an “ armed forces of Europe ” to better stand up to an expansionist Russia that also could threaten the 27-nation EU.

In an interview with U.S. television network NBC that aired on Sunday, Zelenskyy ratcheted up his warnings and said that Ukraine had shared intelligence with partners indicating that Putin was “preparing to train 150,000 people mostly on the territory of Belarus.” He also said that Europe has fewer brigades than Russia.

“The risk that Russia will occupy Europe is 100%,” he said in comments to the “Meet the Press” program recorded Friday.

On Saturday, Zelenskyy told The Associated Press that he had directed his ministers not to sign off on a proposed agreement to give the United States access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, because the document was too focused on U.S. interests.

The proposal was a key part of his talks with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich event, according to one current and one former senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks. Zelenskyy’s decision not to sign a deal, at least for now, was described as “shortsighted” by a senior White House official.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters in Munich on Saturday that he has asked U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to exclude Japan from steel and aluminum tariffs as well as from reciprocal tariff measures.

Iwaya, who had a brief chat with the top U.S. diplomat on the sidelines of the conference, said that he also “raised the issue” of automobile tariffs, though he gave no further details. If imposed, the impact of the tariffs on the Japanese auto industry would be huge, experts say.

Associated Press writers Joanna Kozlowska in London, Angela Charlton and Thomas Adamson in Paris, and Jamey Keaten in Lyon, France, contributed to this report.

LONDON (AP) — Five years ago Friday, two crowds of people gathered near Britain’s Parliament — some with Union Jacks and cheers, others European Union flags and tears.

On Jan. 31, 2020 at 11 p.m. London time – midnight at EU headquarters in Brussels — the U.K. officially left the bloc after almost five decades of membership that had brought free movement and free trade between Britain and 27 other European countries.

For Brexit supporters, the U.K. was now a sovereign nation in charge of its own destiny. For opponents, it was an isolated and diminished country.

It was, inarguably, a divided nation that had taken a leap into the dark. Five years on, people and businesses are still wrestling with the economic, social and cultural aftershocks.

“The impact has been really quite profound,” said political scientist Anand Menon, who heads the think-tank U.K. in a Changing Europe. “It’s changed our economy.

“And our politics has been changed quite fundamentally as well,” he added. “We’ve seen a new division around Brexit becoming part of electoral politics.”

An island nation with a robust sense of its historical importance, Britain had long been an uneasy member of the EU when it held a referendum in June 2016 on whether to remain or leave. Decades of deindustrialization, followed by years of public spending cuts and high immigration, made fertile ground for the argument that Brexit would let the U.K. “take back control” of its borders, laws and economy.

Yet the result — 52% to 48% in favor of leaving — came as a shock to many. Neither the Conservative government, which campaigned to stay in the EU, nor pro-Brexit campaigners had planned for the messy details of the split.

The referendum was followed by years of wrangling over divorce terms between a wounded EU and a fractious U.K. that caused gridlock in Parliament and ultimately defeated Prime Minister Theresa May. She resigned in 2019 and was replaced by Boris Johnson, who vowed to “get Brexit done.”

The U.K. left without agreement on its future economic relationship with the EU, which accounted for half the country’s trade. The political departure was followed by 11 months of testy negotiations on divorce terms, culminating in agreement on Christmas Eve in 2020.

The bare-bones trade deal saw the U.K. leave the bloc’s single market and customs union. It meant goods could move without tariffs or quotas, but brought new red tape, costs and delays for trading businesses.

“It has cost us money. We are definitely slower and it’s more expensive. But we’ve survived,” said Lars Andersen, whose London-based company, My Nametags, ships brightly colored labels for kids’ clothes and school supplies to more than 150 countries.

To keep trading with the EU, Andersen has had to set up a base in Ireland, through which all orders destined for EU countries must pass before being sent on. He says the hassle has been worth it, but some other small businesses he knows have stopped trading with the EU or moved manufacturing out of the U.K.

Julianne Ponan, founder and CEO of allergen-free food producer Creative Nature, had a growing export business to EU countries that was devastated by Brexit. Since then she has successfully turned to markets in the Middle East and Australia, something she says has been a positive outcome of leaving the EU.

Having mastered the new red tape, she is now gradually building up business with Europe again.

“But we’ve lost four years of growth there,” she said. “And that’s the sad part. We would be a lot further ahead in our journey if Brexit hadn’t happened.”

The government’s Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that U.K. exports and imports will both be around 15% lower in the long run than if the U.K. had remained in the EU, and economic productivity 4% less than it otherwise would have been.

Brexit supporters argue that short-term pain will be offset by Britain’s new freedom to strike trade deals around the world. Since Brexit. the U.K. has signed trade agreements with countries including Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

But David Henig, a trade expert at the European Center for International Political Economy, said they have not offset the hit to trade with Britain’s nearest neighbors.

“The big players aren’t so much affected,” Henig said. “We still have Airbus, we still have Scotch whisky. We still do defense, big pharmaceuticals. But the mid-size players are really struggling to keep their exporting position. And nobody new is coming in to set up.”

In some ways, Brexit has not played out as either supporters or opponents anticipated. The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine piled on more economic disruption, and made it harder to discern the impact of Britain’s EU exit on the economy.

In one key area, immigration, Brexit’s impact has been the opposite of what many predicted. A desire to reduce immigration was a major reason many people voted to leave the EU, yet immigration today is far higher than before Brexit because the number of visas granted for workers from around the world has soared.

Meanwhile, the rise of protectionist political leaders, especially newly returned U.S. President Donald Trump, has raised the stakes for Britain, now caught between its near neighbors in Europe and its trans-Atlantic “special relationship” with the U.S.

“The world is a far less forgiving place now than it was in 2016 when we voted to leave,” Menon said.

Polls suggest U.K. public opinion has soured on Brexit, with a majority of people now thinking it was a mistake. But rejoining seems a distant prospect. With memories of arguments and division still raw, few people want to go through all that again.

Labour Party Prime Minister Keir Starmer, elected in July 2024, has promised to “reset” relations with the EU, but has ruled out rejoining the customs union or single market. He’s aiming for relatively modest changes such as a making it easier for artists to tour and for professionals to have their qualifications recognized, as well as on closer cooperation on law enforcement and security.

EU leaders have welcomed the change of tone from Britain, but have problems of their own amid growing populism across the continent. The U.K. is no longer a top priority.

“I completely understand, it’s difficult to get back together after quite a harsh divorce,” said Andersen, who nonetheless hopes Britain and the EU will draw closer with time. “I suspect it will happen, but it will happen slowly and subtly without politicians particularly shouting about it.”

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Police and protesters brutally clashed in Georgia after the country’s ruling party suspended negotiations to join the European Union until 2028.

Police used water cannons, pepper spray and tear gas late Thursday to disperse protesters who took to the streets following the announcement by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

Georgian Dream claimed victory in last month’s parliamentary election that the opposition in the South Caucasus nation dismissed as fraudulent and that has been condemned by European officials. The election on Oct. 26 was widely seen as a referendum on the country’s aspirations to join the European Union and the ruling party had indicated to voters that it would continue to seek membership of the bloc.

The interior ministry said it detained 43 people during the protests.

President Salome Zourabichvili said the government declared “war” on its own people and confronted riot police at the protest, asking them whether they served Russia or Georgia.

The Georgian president, who has a largely ceremonial role, previously said the ruling party rigged the election with the help of Russia, which previously ruled Georgia from Moscow when it was part of the Soviet Union.

She said the decision to suspend EU membership marked the “conclusion of the constitutional coup which has been unfolding for several weeks.”

The government’s announcement that it was suspending negotiations to join the EU came hours after the European Parliament adopted a resolution that condemned last month’s vote as neither free nor fair, representing yet another manifestation of the continued democratic backsliding “for which the ruling Georgian Dream party is fully responsible.”

European election observers said October’s vote took place in a divisive atmosphere marked by instances of bribery, double voting and physical violence.

The EU granted Georgia candidate status in December 2023 on condition that it meet the bloc’s recommendations, but put its accession on hold and cut financial support earlier this year after the passage of a “foreign influence” law widely seen as a blow to democratic freedoms.

EU lawmakers urged a rerun of the parliamentary vote within a year under thorough international supervision and by an independent election administration. They also called on the EU to impose sanctions and limit formal contacts with the Georgian government.

The Georgian prime minister fired back, denouncing what he described as a “cascade of insults” from the EU politicians and declaring that “the ill-wishers of our country have turned the European Parliament into a blunt weapon of blackmail against Georgia, which is a great disgrace for the European Union.”

“We will continue on our path toward the European Union; however, we will not allow anyone to keep us in a constant state of blackmail and manipulation, which is utterly disrespectful to our country and society,” Kobakhidze said. “We must clearly show certain European politicians and bureaucrats, who are completely devoid of European values, that they must speak to Georgia with dignity, not through blackmail and insults.”

Kobakhidze also said Georgia would reject any budgetary grants from the EU until the end of 2028.

Critics have accused Georgian Dream — established by Bidzina Ivanishvili, a shadowy billionaire who made his fortune in Russia — of becoming increasingly authoritarian and tilted toward Moscow. The party recently pushed through laws similar to those used by the Kremlin to crack down on freedom of speech and LGBTQ+ rights.

The EU suspended Georgia’s membership application process indefinitely in June, after parliament passed a law requiring organizations that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “pursuing the interest of a foreign power,” similar to a Russian law used to discredit organizations critical of the government.