In a dramatic escalation of trade tensions, U.S. President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is recommending a 50 percent tariff on all imports from the European Union, set to take effect on June 1, 2025.
The move, according to dw.com, comes amid stalled trade negotiations between Washington and Brussels, which Trump described as having hit a dead end.
“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” Trump declared in a post on his Truth Social platform. “Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50 percent tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1.”
Trump criticized the EU as being “very difficult to deal with,” and claimed that the bloc was originally created “to take advantage of the United States on trade.” He also railed against what he called Europe’s “powerful trade barriers,” value-added taxes, “ridiculous corporate penalties,” monetary manipulation, and “unjustified lawsuits against American companies.”
He ended the post by emphasizing that products made in the U.S. would not be affected by the proposed tariffs.
However, the financial markets reacted swiftly and negatively to the announcement as major European stock indices plunged — Germany’s DAX fell by 1.9 percent; France’s CAC 40 dropped 2.4 percent and the UK’s FTSE 100 lost 1.1 percent.
The U.S. stock futures also slumped ahead of the market open, with S&P 500 futures down 1.5 percent, Dow Jones futures off by 1.5 percent and Nasdaq futures dropping 1.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the oil prices slipped and U.S. Treasury yields fell, reflecting growing investor unease about the potential global economic fallout from a trade war between the world’s largest economies.
The European Commission declined to immediately respond to Trump’s statements. A spokesperson said the bloc would wait for talks between EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and his U.S. counterpart Jamieson Greer.
Earlier in the day, Trump also singled out tech giant Apple, threatening the company with a 25 percent tariff on iPhones sold in the U.S. if they are not manufactured domestically.
“I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else,” he wrote on Truth Social. “If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25 percent must be paid by Apple to the US.”
Although Apple continues to manufacture most of its iPhones in China, the company has been expanding its production in India — a move some analysts interpret as part of a broader effort to diversify its supply chain. Experts warn that relocating iPhone production to the U.S. would require massive capital investments and could significantly increase retail prices.
Trump’s latest tariff threats mark a sharp turn in U.S.-EU trade relations and could trigger retaliation from Brussels, raising the risk of a broader transatlantic trade dispute in the months ahead.
