US President Donald Trump has said he is recommending a 50% tariff on all goods from the European Union being imported to the United States.
“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” he wrote in a post on social media on Friday. He said the new tariffs would kick in on 1 June.
The announcement marks an escalation of Trump’s trade war with the EU. He initially proposed a 20% tariff on most EU goods, but halved it to 10% until 8 July to allow time for talks.
The president also threatened to impose a 25% import tax “at least” on iPhones not manufactured in America.
The EU has not commented on the latest threat, which came just ahead of trade talks scheduled between the two sides.
Trade expert Aslak Berg from the Centre for European Reform said he thought Trump’s post was intended to increase leverage ahead of those negotiations.
“We have to keep in mind that at this point, this is a threat. It’s not an announcement. There is no executive order,” he said.
A tariff is a domestic tax levied on goods as they enter a country, proportional to the value of the import and it is paid by the business importing them.
“But the fact of the matter is the EU is not going to budge. They are going to stay calm, carry on and it will be a very difficult discussion this afternoon.”
Shares in the US and EU fell on Friday after the threats, with the S&P 500 down about 1% and Germany’s Dax falling more than 1.7%.Shares in Apple, which had won relief last month when trump exempted key electronics like smartphones from his tariffs, opened more than 2% lower.
‘Light a fire’
Speaking to Fox News on Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the US wanted to see more concessions from Europe.
“I believe the president believes that the EU proposals have not been of the same quality that we’ve seen from our other important trading partners,” he said.
“I would hope this would light a fire under the EU,” he added.
Trump’s complaints about the EU have focused on goods such as food and cars.The boss of carmaker Volvo said in response to Trump’s threat that customers would have to pay a large part of the cost increases resulting from tariffs.
