The European Union has pushed again in opposition to President Donald Trump’s newest suggestion that he’ll impose a 50% import tariff on all E.U. items, warning that trans-Atlantic commerce have to be constructed on “respect, not threats.”
The rebuke got here after Trump mentioned in a Friday publish on his Truth Social platform that commerce negotiations with Brussels have been “going nowhere” and advised he would slap a 50% blanket responsibility on all European items getting into the U.S. beginning June 1.
However on Sunday, Trump announced that the brand new date for the tariff to enter impact could be July 9, after he mentioned Ursula Von Der Leyden — president of the European Fee — known as him and requested he push again the date.
It was simply the newest bellicose comment from Trump and got here amid a broader souring of relations between the two global powers that has seen months of mistrust and financial sparring.
The E.U., residence to just about 450 million individuals, is the world’s largest buying and selling bloc and considered one of Washington’s high industrial companions. It exported greater than $600 billion in items to the U.S. final yr whereas importing items value round $370 billion.
Trump’s newest broadside follows his April 2 “Liberation Day” announcement of a 39% tariff on European items, an thought he later walked again earlier than he modified course once more Friday with a fair harder stance.
Stephen Moore, a former financial adviser to Trump, advised the BBC that his former boss was expressing his frustration with the E.U.
“I believe he hoped that by now we’d have the E.U. coming with some sort of deal on the desk, and to this point that hasn’t come,” he mentioned, calling the 50% import tariffs a “shot on the bow.”
E.U. Commerce Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič mentioned late Friday that “E.U.-U.S. commerce is unmatched & have to be guided by mutual respect, not threats,” and that the bloc stays dedicated to securing “a deal that works for each,” following a name with U.S. Commerce Consultant Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Whereas the E.U.’s response indicators a willingness to barter, discord has deepened between the bloc and its longtime trans-Atlantic ally over a return to the combative stance Trump took throughout his first administration, when he flew within the face of a long time of cooperation and solid the E.U. as an financial rival.
In 2018, Trump mentioned “no one treats us a lot worse than the European Union” and argued the bloc was designed to use the U.S. He repeated that declare this yr, describing the E.U. as being “fashioned with the intention to screw the USA.”
Whereas the ideological architects of Trump’s first administration resembling Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro have additionally gone on file criticizing the union, many in Trump’s present inside circle have shared these sentiments.
Vice President J.D. Vance lashed out in February at European leaders at a safety convention in Munich over points starting from free speech to migration and protection, dealing a sucker punch to the European view of America as a steadfast cultural ally.
“The menace that I fear essentially the most about vis-à-vis Europe,” Vance mentioned, “is the menace from inside — the retreat of Europe from a few of its most elementary values, values shared with the USA of America.”
That got here after Elon Musk — the world’s richest man, who additionally served as Trump’s shut adviser earlier in his second time period — threw his assist behind Germany’s far-right Various for Germany celebration, which has known as for Germany to depart the E.U.
Underlying a lot of the second Trump administration’s animosity towards Europe has been safety funding, most prominently over the struggle in Ukraine.
Whereas the administration’s view of the struggle in Ukraine has since softened, Vance has repeatedly opposed sending army help to Kyiv, saying in February that “I don’t actually care what occurs to Ukraine a technique or one other.”
And in a Signal conversation between senior administration officials leaked in March, the vice chairman initially resisted U.S. strikes in Yemen, arguing he didn’t wish to “bail Europe out,” whereas Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that Europe was treating America like a “sucker” by counting on it for protection.
Whereas Šefčovič’s name for a “deal that works for each” displays the E.U.’s characteristically restrained response to the Trump administration’s jabs, Europe has been bracing itself for months for the potential for a extra distant financial relationship with the U.S. too.
Earlier this month, Šefčovič mentioned the bloc most popular to barter, “however not at any price,” earlier than saying greater than $100 billion value of doable retaliatory tariffs on U.S. items the next day.
Europe additionally seems to be making ready for a future with out America’s assure of European safety in opposition to Russia. Germany this week deployed a everlasting army brigade past its borders for the first time since the end of World War II.
A brewing commerce struggle with the bloc throws into reduction the place of Britain, which voted to depart the E.U. in 2016, however just lately signed a commerce cope with Europe and an economic deal with the U.S.
London seems to have sidestepped the steepest tariffs after Trump agreed final month to carry the levy on British items at 10%, however the U.Ok. should now stroll a fragile line: sustaining its “particular relationship” with Washington whereas in search of nearer alignment with its largest buying and selling companion in Brussels.
However with tensions rising throughout the Atlantic, even allies danger being caught within the crossfire. The E.U. — a geopolitical heavyweight in its personal proper — is unlikely to take hefty U.S. tariffs mendacity down with out making strikes of its personal.
