The US president said the new levy could enter into force due to trade imbalances with the bloc
US President Donald Trump has recommended a “straight 50% tariff” on the entire European Union, citing a $250 billion yearly trade deficit with the bloc. He suggested that the new rate will start being applied on June 1.
Writing on his Truth Social account on Friday, Trump suggested that the EU was initially formed “for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the US on Trade,” and stated that the bloc has been “very difficult to deal with.”
He further claimed that the EU’s economic policies, taxes, regulations and “unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies” have led to a trade deficit with the EU of “more than $250,000,000 a year,” which he described as “totally unacceptable.”
“Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025,” Trump announced, adding that there would be no tariff on products “built or manufactured in the United States.”
In April, Trump imposed a sweeping 20% tariff on all EU goods as well as a 25% tariff on all car imports and metals. However, he later suspended the 20% levy for 90 days, keeping only a 10% baseline tariff.
Last week, the US president stated that the EU had proven to be very difficult to deal with regarding trade practices, claiming that the bloc was “in many ways nastier than China.”
“They treated us very unfairly,” Trump said. “They sell us 13 million cars; we sell them none. They sell us their agricultural products; we sell them virtually none,” he claimed, vowing that Washington would “equalize” the situation and that “Europe is gonna have to pay a little bit more…. And America is gonna pay a lot less.”
