UNITED States President Donald Trump has imposed a 30-percent tariff on imports from Mexico and the European Union starting on August 1, weeks after negotiations with the major trading partners failed to reach a more comprehensive trade deal.
Trump announced the new tariffs on two of the US’s biggest trade partners in separate letters posted to his Truth Social platform on Saturday. He said they were due to what he called Mexico’s role in undocumented migration and illicit drugs flowing into the US and a trade imbalance with the EU, respectively.
Earlier this week, Trump issued new tariff announcements for more than 20 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil, as well as a 50-percent tariff on copper.
The duties are higher than the 25-percent levy Trump imposed on Mexican goods earlier this year – although products entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement are exempted.
The EU tariff is also markedly steeper than the 20-percent tax Trump unveiled in April.
In response, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is prepared to take the necessary steps to safeguard its interests, “including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”
Von der Leyen said in a statement that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by August 1”.
French President Emmanuel Macron called on the EU to “resolutely defend European interests”, saying it should “step up the preparation of credible countermeasures by mobilising all instruments at its disposal, including anti-coercion” if the two sides failed to reach an agreement.
The EU’s Anti-Coercion Instrument allows the bloc to retaliate against third countries that put economic pressure on EU members to change their policies, its measures including limitations on access to public procurement tenders.
Three other EU officials told the Reuters news agency that Trump’s tariff threat is a negotiating tactic.
EU states, alongside dozens of other economies, had been set to see their US tariff level increase from a baseline of 10 percent on Wednesday, but Trump pushed back the deadline to August 1 just days before the elevated rates were due to take effect.
