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L'Oréal Urges EU to Exclude Cosmetics from U.S. Trade Retaliation Targets

Style and Beauty

Business Honor
23 March, 2025

L'Oréal warns the EU against retaliating with cosmetics tariffs, citing potential negative trade impacts.

European beauty companies, notably the largest in the world, L'Oréal, have urged the EU to take American cosmetics off of its list of possible targets for trade revenge, citing the possibility that doing so would lead to revenge against one of the largest industries in the region.

L'Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said he and a group of 15 other beauty leaders known as Value of Beauty had cautioned EU officials this week that if cosmetics are included in remedies against US tariffs, it might result in a negative reaction. Hieronimus told the Financial Times that his sole request to the people he has encountered in Brussels is to consider the balance of trade and avoid flagging a category where the losses outweigh the potential gains.

In an effort to give Washington "more time for discussions," the commission, which has the power to determine trade policy for the 27-nation bloc, postponed that round of tariffs until April 13 on Thursday. According to two EU officials briefed on the talks, the decision to postpone came after France and the nation's significant alcohol industry pleaded to prevent Trump from imposing 200 percent tariffs on EU alcohol imports as retribution.

According to Hieronimus, L'Oréal and a coalition of CEOs from companies including Germany's Beiersdorf and Switzerland's Givaudan met with EU representatives in Brussels this week to caution against a possible "tit-for-tat" reaction to taxes on cosmetics. A possible ban on ethanol in cosmetics is another issue that worries them, and they have worked to increase awareness at the EU level about how much their innovation budgets are being eaten up by reformulations to meet evolving regulatory standards.