US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 50 per cent tariff on imports from the European Union starting June 1, 2025, escalating tensions between Washington and the EU over ongoing trade negotiations.
Posting on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump accused the EU of dragging its feet in talks, stating that discussions were “going nowhere” and recommending what he described as a “straight 50% tariff.”
The announcement immediately rattled financial markets, with stock futures on Wall Street dropping in response.
If implemented, the proposed tariff would significantly raise the current baseline US import duty of 10 per cent on EU goods, potentially fuelling a deeper trade rift between the world’s largest economy and its most substantial trading bloc.
Trump’s warning follows a wave of broad tariffs announced last month, targeting numerous countries, including the EU. Those measures included steep new duties on sectors such as automobiles, steel, and aluminium — unless those goods were manufactured in the United States.
The initial announcement prompted a market sell-off, leading the White House to temporarily suspend the majority of the new levies for 90 days to allow room for negotiations, although the 10 per cent baseline remained in place.
However, talks with the European Union have proven more contentious than with other trade partners.
In response to the impasse, the EU has threatened to retaliate with tariffs on US products worth nearly €100 billion (approximately $113 billion) if a resolution is not found to reduce American levies on European exports.
In his post, Trump claimed that the EU had been “formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on trade” and criticised the slow pace and difficulty of current negotiations.
His comments mark the latest flare-up in what has become an increasingly fraught transatlantic economic relationship.
