{"id":128345,"date":"2025-05-24T15:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T15:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/128345\/"},"modified":"2025-05-24T15:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T15:36:09","slug":"trumps-issue-with-the-e-u-as-he-threatens-50-tariff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/128345\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s Issue With the E.U. as He Threatens 50% Tariff"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a sharp escalation of trade negotiations with the European Union (E.U.), Trump took to social media on Friday<\/a> and announced that he is \u201crecommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with,\u201d Trump claimed. \u201cTheir powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans companies, and more, have led to a trade deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable. Our discussions with them are going nowhere!\u201d<\/p>\n

As he has said elsewhere, Trump went on to add: \u201cThere is no tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s initial April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs included a blanket 10% tariff on nations doing business with the U.S., plus additional \u201creciprocal\u201d tariffs<\/a> for some. The E.U. was hit with a 20% reciprocal tariff.<\/p>\n

In response, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the E.U.\u2019s executive arm issued a strong statement<\/a>, calling the move \u201ca blow to the world economy,\u201d and vowing that the E.U. would issue countermeasures. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in this together. If you take on one of us, you take on all of us. Europe stands together for our businesses, for our workers and for all Europeans,” she said, before highlighting her eagerness to move from \u201cconfrontation to negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The E.U. voted to retaliate on some of Trump’s tariffs<\/a>, but such discussions were halted when Trump announced a 90-day pause on most “reciprocal” charges. The E.U. therefore currently only has a 10% tariff from the U.S. While the 90-day pause, set to expire on July 9, has offered the E.U. a reprieve, Trump\u2019s threat to enforce a 50% tariff starting June 1 has once again spiked tensions and the markets have responded negatively<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some hours after Trump’s announcement on Friday, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security at the E.U., posted on X <\/a> that he had engaged in discussions with Trump\u2019s Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and the U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe E.U.’s fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both. E.U. remains ready to work in good faith,\u201d \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d said, before reiterating the E.U.’s stance that negotiation is preferred over confrontation. \u201cE.U.-U.S. trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, amid fears of a U.S.-E.U. trade war, \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d concluded on a defiant note: “We stand ready to defend our interests.”<\/p>\n

The E.U. is one of Washington\u2019s top commercial partners, and is the largest trading bloc<\/a> in the world.<\/p>\n

Later in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump defended his announcement, complaining about the E.U.\u2019s business dealings and citing the U.S. goods trade deficit with the E.U., which was $235.6 billion in 2024, according to U.S. Commerce Department data.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not looking for a deal,\u201d Trump told reporters. <\/a>\u201cWe\u2019ve set the deal\u2014it\u2019s at 50%.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tense history between Trump and the E.U.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s tariff threat comes after years of him highlighting dissatisfaction with trade between the U.S. and the E.U.<\/p>\n

During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs<\/a> on steel and aluminium imports from the E.U., Canada, and Mexico, which at the time brought the U.S. to the brink of a trade war. In 2018, when asked about the tariffs,<\/a> Trump said that \u201cnobody treats us much worse than the European Union\u201d and argued the bloc was \u201cformed\u201d to \u201ctake advantage of\u201d the U.S.<\/p>\n

During the first few months of Trump\u2019s second term in the White House, tensions have grown, both as a result of his tumultuous trade policies and his geopolitical moves<\/a> in regards to the Russia-Ukraine war. <\/p>\n

\"UKTrump’s negotiations with the U.K. have proved to be far more successful. Here, U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Trump shake hands at the White House on Feb. 27, 2025. Chen Mengtong\u2014Getty Images<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, outside of the E.U., Trump has had some success with his trade deals. Trump said on Truth Social<\/a> on Friday that the U.S. dealings with the United Kingdom are \u201cworking out well for all.\u201d This comes after the U.S. and the U.K. announced a trade agreement on May 8, one which Trump hailed for its \u201creciprocity and fairness<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Progress was made between the U.S. and China<\/a> earlier this month when both nations agreed to drastically reduce tariffs on each other for an initial 90-day period, which came into effect on May 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a sharp escalation of trade negotiations with the European Union (E.U.), Trump took to social media on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,28423,1166],"class_list":{"0":"post-128345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-news-desk","13":"tag-trump-administration"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114563552617337662","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}