European shares were largely unchanged on Thursday as investors took a step back to assess the ramifications of U.S. President Donald Trump's wavering tariff announcements on global trade relations.

For consumers, higher prices loom on supermarket shelves, but for businesses and industry the risks are higher.

During Trump's meeting with the Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump declared his stark eight-word response: "Whatever they charge us with, we're charging them." The statement was made when the pair were discussing the EU's counter-measures announced by the 27-member bloc.