The European Union will take "a bit of time" before it responds to the new reciprocal tariff rates U.S. President Donald Trump plans to outline on April 2, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said on Wednesday.

U.S. objections to VAT, which applies in 170-plus countries, are hard to address. Brussels says it is similar to U.S. sales tax and not a tariff. Moreover, taxes are set by individual member states and so cannot be negotiated by the Commission.

Instead of equalizing tariff rates with every nation, Trump’s team debated sorting trading partners into tiers.