{"id":260463,"date":"2025-07-13T02:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T02:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260463\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T02:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T02:22:12","slug":"trump-announces-30-tariff-on-eu-goods-from-august-brussels-seeks-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/260463\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump announces 30% tariff on EU goods from August, Brussels seeks talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nDonald Trump sent a letter to the EU on Saturday announcing a 30% tariff on EU products imported to the US \u2013 well above what Brussels had anticipated \u2013 effective from 1 August. Separate tariffs for specific sectors \u2013 such as steel and aluminium, and cars \u2013 are already in place.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n“Understand that the 30% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with the EU,” reads the letter, which adds that there will be no tariffs for EU companies that carry out production in the US.\n<\/p>\n

\nEU officials had hoped no letter would come \u2013 but that they would instead clinch an “agreement in principle” like the one the US struck<\/a> with the UK in May, which kept the 10% baseline while softening car and metal duties.\n<\/p>\n

\nTrump also threatened to increase tariffs further if the EU chooses to retaliate. “If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs and retaliate, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 30% that we charge.”\n<\/p>\n

\nEU ambassadors will convene an extraordinary meeting on Sunday at 15:30 to discuss the measures, an EU diplomat said.\n<\/p>\n

\nFollowing the announcement, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that a 30% tariff would “disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of business, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic.”\n<\/p>\n

\n“Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” she added, noting that the EU remains ready to continue working towards an agreement by 1 August.\n<\/p>\n

\nHowever, von der Leyen said the EU would take “all necessary steps” to safeguard the bloc’s interests, including countermeasures “if required”.\n<\/p>\n

\nEuropean Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa said that the “EU remains firm, united and ready” to protect its interests, and supported von der Leyen’s efforts to reach an agreement with the US.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe Commission had already been informed of Trump’s move before Saturday’s announcement, an EU official told Euractiv.\n<\/p>\n

\nThe EU has already drawn up a retaliatory package targeting\u00a0\u20ac21 billion<\/a> worth of US goods \u2013 including diamonds, soybeans, and motorbikes \u2013 currently suspended until Monday 14\u202fJuly. EU trade ministers will meet in Brussels that day to discuss transatlantic trade relations, including whether to extend the suspension.\n<\/p>\n

\nForeign ministers could also weigh in on Tuesday at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council, an EU official told Euractiv, noting that while US tariffs are not currently on the agenda, that could change. Ministers are expected to discuss EU-China relations ahead of a key summit<\/a> later this month, but Trump\u2019s larger-than-expected tariffs may shift the dynamics, an EU diplomat added.\n<\/p>\n

\nBrussels is also preparing a separate\u00a0\u20ac95 billion<\/a>\u00a0list that could affect US aircraft, spirits, and electrical equipment.\n<\/p>\n

\nPolitical back and forth<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\nThe letter comes after months of political and technical negotiations between EU and US officials over Trump\u2019s sweeping \u201creciprocal tariffs<\/a>\u201d, which upended the global economy and financial markets before being suspended shortly after their announcement on 2 April.\n<\/p>\n

\nTrump\u2019s 50% duty on\u00a0steel and aluminium<\/a>, 25% tariff on\u00a0cars and car parts<\/a>, and 10% baseline levy on most other goods currently affect \u20ac370 billion worth of EU goods \u2013 or 70% of the bloc\u2019s total exports to the US.\n<\/p>\n

\nHe also\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0on Wednesday that a 50% tariff on copper will become effective on 1 August, the same day that the reciprocal levies on US trading partners are set to enter into force.\n<\/p>\n

\nA day earlier, Trump\u00a0suggested<\/a>\u00a0he would send a letter to the EU later this week similar to the ones delivered to numerous other US trading partners over the past few days, which have broadly matched the duties imposed in April. Trump has previously\u00a0threatened<\/a>\u00a0to hit the bloc with a reciprocal levy of between 20% and 50%.\n<\/p>\n

\n\u201cMy understanding is that we are not going to receive a letter,\u201d Olof Gill, Commission spokesperson for trade, said on Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n

\n*Alexandra Brzozowski contributed reporting\n<\/p>\n

\n(mm, ow)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump sent a letter to the EU on Saturday announcing a 30% tariff on EU products imported…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260464,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-260463","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114843546007522646","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260463","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=260463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260463\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}