Live Italy issues tariff threat to Trump after EU climbdown
The euro has fallen and European stocks are on track to open lower after Mr Trump on Saturday said he would impose a 30pc tariff on imports from Mexico and the EU from August 1.
Italy's foreign minister Antonio Tajani said the EU had prepared a list of tariffs on US goods if the two sides fail to reach a trade deal.
'Tariffs hurt every one, starting with the United States,' he told the Il Messaggero newspaper.
'If stock markets fall that puts at risk the pensions and the savings of the Americans.'
The comments came as Brussels backed down at the eleventh hour from plans to impose retaliatory tariffs.
The EU's tariffs on US steel and aluminium exports were due to come into effect after midnight on July 14, but Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said these will now be put on hold until early August.
Mr Tajani also said the European Central Bank should consider cutting interest rates to boost the economy, as well as implementing a new 'quantitative easing' bond-buying-programme.
Germany's Dax was down 1pc in premarket trading amid the tariff turmoil, with France's Cac 40 down 0.9pc.
The euro fell to a three-week low against the dollar after Mr Trump's letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, which was posted on his Truth Social platform.
Both the European Union and Mexico described the tariffs as unfair and disruptive, while the EU said it would extend its suspension of countermeasures to US tariffs until early August and continue to press for a negotiated settlement.
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