U.S. president Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 50% tariff on imports from the European Union, accusing the 27-member trading bloc of stalling trade talks.
Lamenting that negotiations with the EU “are going nowhere,” Trump said on Truth Social on Friday, May 23rd, that he is recommending “a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”
Stock futures on Wall Street fell on the news.
If the new duties come into effect, they would dramatically hike the current U.S. baseline 10% levy against goods coming from the EU, and ratchet up economic tensions between the world’s biggest economy and its largest trading bloc.
Last month, Trump imposed sweeping tariffs against most countries, introducing steep duties for several trading partners—including the EU—and sector-specific measures against automobiles, steel, and aluminum not produced in the United States.
Markets tanked following the announcement, and a few days later, the U.S. president announced a 90-day pause on levies for most countries to allow for negotiations, while keeping that lower 10% baseline in place.
The talks between the United States and the EU have not gone as smoothly as with other partners, with the EU recently threatening to hit U.S. goods worth nearly 100 billion euros with tariffs if the ongoing talks fail to lower levies on European goods.
