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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.

The EU announced retaliation measures against Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium imports last week, which included a 99-page list of US goods that could be subject to tariffs from mid-April, including perfumes, shampoos, skincare products and make-up.

The list, which covers some €26bn worth of goods, is part of a two-stage plan that also includes the reinstatement of measures introduced during Trump’s first term, including levies on bourbon whiskey and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, initially due to come into force on April 1.

The commission, which has the authority to decide trade policy for the 27-country bloc, on Thursday delayed that round of tariffs to April 13, in an attempt to make “additional time for discussions” with Washington. Paula Pinho, the commission’s chief spokesperson, said on Friday the move would also “make sure that we have a list [of measures] which reflects in a balanced, proportionate manner the [EU’s] business and consumer interests”.

The decision to delay followed pleas from France and the country’s important alcohol industry to avoid Trump’s threatened retaliation of 200 per cent tariffs on EU alcohol imports, according to two EU officials briefed on the discussions.

Hieronimus said L’Oréal and an alliance of chief executives of groups including Germany’s Beiersdorf and Switzerland’s Givaudan met with EU officials in Brussels this week to warn against a potential “tit-for-tat” response to levies on beauty products.

“If you’re going to put a category in the tariff war, you’d better make sure that this category is a net importer rather than net exporter . . . If there is this tit-for-tat thing on beauty, it’s going to penalise Europe much more than American businesses and companies,” he said.

“We explained several times [to European officials] that it’s a mistake” to include beauty and cosmetics, said Vincent Warnery, chief executive of Beiersdorf, which owns brands including Nivea and Coppertone, likening it to “shooting ourselves in the foot”. 

“We’ll raise prices in the US, if needed,” he added, “which will hurt consumers in the US and Canada and will also hurt our market share . . . So leave us out of it, enjoy what we bring to the economy, and don’t start a fire where there is no need.”

Their comments came as German beauty retailer Douglas warned this week that trade tensions had already accelerated a slowdown in European demand for high-end cosmetics, sending its shares down 22 per cent on Friday.

Europe is a major exporter of beauty and personal care products, employing nearly 2mn people directly across the bloc, according to research from Oxford Economics, and contributed some €180bn to the EU’s economic output in 2023, as well as €71bn in tax revenues. 

The US is one of the biggest markets for groups like L’Oréal. Although the Paris-based company manufactures many of its products in the countries where it sells them, an ongoing trade war could lead to some increased costs being passed on to consumers, and disrupt the industry’s complex supply chains.

The group of beauty executives was also in Brussels to speak to EU officials to advocate for changes to the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, which came into force in January, and which the beauty industry feels unduly targets it.

They are also concerned about a potential ban on ethanol in cosmetics products, and have sought to raise awareness at the EU level about how much reformulations to comply with changing regulatory standards eat into their innovation budgets. 

Hieronimus said about a third of his researchers’ time and budget was spent on reformulating to comply with regulation. “I’m not saying all regulation is bad . . . We are determined to make the changes when it’s necessary. But sometimes you find some absurdities.”