U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday announced he is “recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union” amid growing frustration over stalled trade negotiations.
The proposed import duties, set to begin on June 1, were revealed in a post on Truth Social, where Trump wrote, “The EU has been very difficult to deal with. Our discussions with them are going nowhere!”
When asked later in the day whether he was seeking to finalize a deal with the EU before the proposed tariffs take effect, Trump responded bluntly. “I just said, it’s time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game,” he said during an executive order signing event at the White House. “I’m not looking for a deal,” he added. “I mean, we’ve set the deal. It’s at 50%.”
Trump’s latest tariff announcement came less than 30 minutes after he threatened to impose a tariff of at least 25% on Apple’s iPhones unless the company begins manufacturing them in the United States.
U.S. stock futures dropped sharply in the wake of Trump’s posts, signaling investor anxiety over renewed trade tensions. European stock markets also reacted, falling 2% following the tariff threat.
The announcement marks a reversal in tone for Trump, who had recently celebrated preliminary trade agreements with China and the United Kingdom, leading to market optimism and a temporary easing of global economic concerns.
However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday on Fox News that Trump “believes that the EU proposals have not been of the same quality that we’ve seen from our other important trading partners.” When asked whether the EU might still negotiate before the June 1 deadline, Bessent said, “I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU.”
Despite the market’s reaction, the White House reportedly does not view Trump’s Truth Social post as a formal policy statement. CNBC’s Eamon Javers reported that the administration felt the markets were overreacting to the president’s remarks.
The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, declined to comment on Trump’s latest tariff proposal.
The EU was the second-largest importer of American goods in 2022, accounting for nearly $351 billion in U.S. exports, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Trump has repeatedly accused the EU of exploiting the U.S. through unfair trade practices. On April 2, he introduced a 20% blanket tariff on EU goods as part of his “reciprocal” tariff agenda but later revised the duty down to 10% for a 90-day period. In addition, he has already imposed a 25% tariff on all EU steel and aluminum imports.
Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee, speaking on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” warned that escalating tariffs could have serious economic consequences. “To go to 10% was going to be the highest tariff rate that we had on the world in 90 years. To go to 50% is a completely different order of magnitude,” Goolsbee said.
“If they’re putting in place tariffs that have a stagflationary impact, which is to say they slowed down output by raising the cost of production while also raising prices, then that’s the Central Bank’s worst situation,” he added.
