A cargo ship arrives at the port of Barcelona in Spain. (Angel Garcia/Bloomberg)

The European Commission has formally launched a surveillance tool to monitor any trade diversion resulting from U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs, as initial results revealed a surge of imports in many goods.

A first set of analysis published by the bloc’s executive arm on June 5 shows imports of some appliances and switches increased by more than 60% compared with last year, while prices dropped.

Shipments of industrial robots rose threefold and prices fell by more than a third. Imports of some steel products, which have been hit by Trump’s heftiest levies, rose by more than 200% and saw a 55% plunge in prices over the same year-on-year period. Similar trends are repeated across many other items, including chemicals, electronics and textiles.

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Because many goods are shut out of U.S. markets due to high tariffs, the EU has made it a priority that those items aren’t diverted into the 27-nation bloc. Trump has imposed sectoral duties of 25% on cars and 50% on steel and aluminum, while hitting most other goods with a universal, so-called reciprocal tariff of 10%.

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The commission is particularly concerned by trade diversion from China, which has been targeted by the U.S. with higher rates. Beijing currently faces Trump’s 10% reciprocal duty on top of a 20% border tax tied to fentanyl trafficking after both sides agreed last month to lower rates and allow a 90-day period for negotiations.

Both sides have since pointed fingers at each other for breaking the deal, although Trump and President Xi Jinping held a much-anticipated call June 5 — their first known conversation since Trump was sworn in for a second term Jan. 20.

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The bloc’s executive arm will update the analysis every month based on customs data and industry input.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the creation of a task force last month to address the matter, and said Brussels would set up a dialogue with Beijing to track any possible diversion.