What Trump's 30% tariff threat means for the European Union — in charts

CNBC

a day ago

U.S. President Donald Trump has pledged to impose a 30% tariff on imports from the European Union from August 1. The announcement, which follows similar warnings to other trading partners, could make everything from German machinery and French cheese to Italian luxury goods and Danish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the U.S. Trump revealed the new rate in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which he posted on Saturday on his social media site Truth Social. The U.S. president shared a similar letter to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. For the EU, the prospect of fresh U.S. tariffs represents a major blow. The 27-nation bloc had been scrambling to secure a preliminary agreement to spare it from becoming the latest recipient of a Trump letter dictating a new, across-the-board tariff on its exports to the U.S. Here's a look at some of the key figures of the U.S.-EU's massive trading relationship. The U.S. and EU have the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world, representing almost 30% of global trade in goods and services, and accounting for 43% of global gross domestic product (GDP), according to EU figures . Last year alone, the value of EU-U.S. trade amounted to 1.68 trillion euros ($1.96 trillion). That's the equivalent of roughly 4.6 billion euros of trade per day. Trump has repeatedly hit out at the EU for what he perceives to be an unfair trading relationship, often citing the EU's trade surplus with the U.S. For its part, the EU has signaled a willingness to reduce its 198 billion euros trade surplus in goods with the U.S. by increasing its purchase of U.S. products, notably defense and liquified natural gas (LNG). Taking into account both trade and services, the EU's total trade surplus with the U.S. stood at a total of 50 billion euros in 2024, a figure which the bloc says represents less than 3% of total U.S.-EU trade. By sector, the pharmaceutical, automotive and aircraft sectors appear to be the most exposed to U.S. tariffs, while Germany, Italy and Ireland are among the EU members likely to be the hardest hit. Trump has said the proposed 30% tariff rate would be separate from sectoral tariffs, suggesting the 50% duties on steel and aluminum imports and 25% on auto imports would remain. The EU has not yet retaliated to Trump's next big tariff deadline. EU ministers are meeting in Brussels, Belgium on Monday to discuss how best to respond. In a Monday note, analysts at UBS said they continued to believe the EU and U.S. would reach an agreement before Aug. 1 or that the White House would extend its deadline again while negotiations continue. However, they added that "aggressive" U.S. demands, including for complete open market access with no tariff charged to it, made it hard to predict how Brussels would respond and increased the risk of economic damage to both sides. — CNBC's Jenni Reid contributed to this report.