European beauty groups including L’Oréal, the world’s biggest, have lobbied the EU to remove American cosmetics from the bloc’s list of potential trade retaliation targets, warning that the move could trigger reprisals against one of the region’s biggest sectors.
Nicolas Hieronimus, L’Oréal’s chief executive, said he and an alliance of 15 other beauty chiefs had warned EU officials this week that the inclusion of cosmetics in countermeasures against US tariffs could lead to a damaging response.
“My only ask to the people I’ve met [in Brussels] is to say: look at the balance of trade and don’t put a red flag on a category where we have more to lose than to win,” Hieronimus told the Financial Times.