U.S. President Donald Trump says trade talks with the European Union protectionist bloc are being so unproductive he is “recommending” a “straight” 50 per cent tariff on bloc exports.
The United States is signing its first post Tariff Liberation Day trade deals — having started with the United Kingdom — but progress has apparently stalled in talks with the European Union, with President Trump saying talks “are going nowhere” and that the bloc had been “very difficult to deal with”.
The protectionist bloc, which was founded in the 1950s to create a preferential, protectionist internal market for trade and which has since mission-creeped to jurisdiction over all forms of economic activity and life for its greatly expanded roll of member states is already subject to a raft of new U.S. tariffs including 25 per cent on steel, aluminium, and cars. President Trump illuminated a handful of the many ways the European Union disadvantages imported goods, noting “powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits”.
The cumulative effect of transatlantic trade of these myriad protections is difficult to truly assess but have led to a considerable trade deficit with the United States. Consequently, the President wrote: ” I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States.”
Apart from targeted tariffs — like on cars — the European Union had been under a special discount of 10 per cent tariffs while negotiations were ongoing, down from the initial 20 per cent. This new punitive rate is an evident signal from the White House that attempts at European strong-arming at the talk table won’t be accepted.
At the time of publication, the European Union has not formally responded to Trump’s recommendation of a considerable tariff boost.
Euronews reports that when briefs were exchanged for U.S.-EU trade talks, the initial positions were “radically apart”. The European Union has been pushing for zero-tariff reciprocal tariffs, which would defeat the purpose of the President’s stated intention to fill the treasury with tariffs on consumption of foreign goods rather than direct taxation of U.S. citizens.
Europe appears to have realised that will not be possible, however, with that publication citing the European Union’s Directorate-General for Trade and Economic Security United States Office chief Matthias Jørgensen who said earlier this month: “With these tariffs the US thinks it has evened the playing field… It’s very possible that we do not get rid of all the tariffs, then we might have to rebalance on our side.”
The United Kingdom achieved 10 per cent tariffs in its first-out-of-the-gate trade deal earlier this month, but President Trump has already made clear the closer to the front of the queue trade deals are, the better the terms will be, making hope for the European Union getting a deal on those terms seem more remote.
This story is developing, more follows
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