How Trump adapts his tariff threats for economic, diplomatic and ideological ends

LeMonde

18 hours ago

Donald Trump added the European Union to his list of countries facing the threat of new customs duties on Saturday, July 12. In a message posted on Truth Social, his private social network which has become the primary communication channel for the White House, the US president stated that products imported from the European Union would be subject to a 30% surcharge if no agreement is reached that meets his expectations – specifically, a "complete open" European market for American goods.
On July 7, Trump acknowledged that his commercial threats had yet to yield results and, by executive order, postponed the deadline for implementing the unilateral tariff increases – originally announced on April 2 and already delayed once – to August 1. These repeated delays have earned the US president an unflattering acronym: TACO, for Trump Always Chickens Out. Markets, for their part, were largely unmoved when the White House occupant again brandished the threat of tariff hikes in letters sent to major US trading partners, including South Korea and Japan, on July 8.
After Canada on July 10, Mexico was the next recipient of these messages posted on Truth Social on Saturday. While the United States' northern neighbor was threatened with a 35% increase in import taxes, a 30% hike was directed at its southern partner. In both cases, the president mixed often questionable economic arguments with considerations unrelated to trade.