Trump announces 30% tariffs on EU goods as trade talks stall – DW – 07/12/2025
The United States is set to impose a 30% tariff on all goods from the European Union from August 1, US President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social platform Saturday.
The EU had been prepared for such a move, which comes a day after Trump told Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney that he would impose a 35% tariffs on Canadian imports.
The 27-member bloc and the US failed to reach an agreement to strike a comprehensive trade deal, including zero-for-zero tariffs on industrial goods.
In addition to the tariffs on EU goods, Trump posted another letter to his platform, declaring a 30% tariff rate on goods from Mexico beginning August 1 as well.
Follow our live blog for the latest EU reactions to Trump's announcement.
The US president said the trade relationship with the EU has been "unfortunately, far from Reciprocal." As such, "we will charge the European Uniona Tariff of only 30%," he said.
Trump has frequently described tariffs as charges on other countries. However, the burden falls on consumers within the US, as tariffs make imported goods more expensive and thus less competitive.
"Please understand that the 30% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with the EU," he added, referring to the difference in goods imported from the EU and goods exported to the EU.
Trump invited the bloc to negotiate further, writing in his letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that high tariff rates would be dropped if "the European Union, or countries within the EU, decide to build or manufacture within the United States."
Trump has spent the week sending letters to trading partners, announcing new rates for a number of countries like Japan, South Korea, Canada and Brazil.
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Trump imposed a 20% import tax on all EU-made products in early April as part of a set of tariffs targeting countries with which the US has a trade imbalance.
Hours after the nation-specific duties took effect, Trump put them on hold until July 9 at a standard rate of 10% in a bid to calm turbulent financial markets and allow time for negotiations.
But the president expressed frustration at talks with the EU. In May, he threatened to impose a tariff rate of 50% on EU goods into the US.
That would cause a price hike on everything from Italian leather goods to French cheese to German electronics in the US.
Then Trump announced that universal tariffs that were due to kick in July 9 would be delayed until at least the beginning of August.
The EU currently faces 50% US tariffs on its steel and aluminium exports, 25% on cars and car parts and 10% on most other products.
Ursula von der Leyen said the EU is prepared to take the necessary steps to safeguard its economic interests if the US proceeds with the 30% tariff rate.
In a statement, Von der Leyen said that the bloc remained ready "to continue working towards an agreement by August 1."
"We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required," she added.
French President Emmanuel Macron said his government shares the European Commission's "very strong disapproval" of Trump's announcement, which came despite "weeks of intense engagement."
"France fully supports the European Commission in the negotiations, which will now intensify," Macron posted on X, adding that he still hopes "a mutually acceptable agreement" will be reached before August 1.
The French president added that the bloc would need to speed up "the preparation of credible countermeasures" if no agreement is reached before the new tariffs take effect.
The EU has the ability to enact the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI) which allows it to retaliate against countries seeking to pressure its members. It has been repeatedly brought up as a possible response to Trump's threats.
The ACI can limit access to companies from those countries to public procurement tenders and target services trade or investment.
Germany's Economy Minister Katherina Reiche, meanwhile, warned that the US tariffs "would hit European exporting companies hard."
She also said that they would have a "strong impact" on the US economy and consumers, as she urged for a "pragmatic outcome" to be reached "quickly."
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Int'l Business Times
an hour ago
- Int'l Business Times
Pentagon Inks Contracts For Musk's XAI, Competitors
The Pentagon announced contracts on Monday with multiple leading US artificial intelligence firms including Elon Musk's xAI, which has faced intense scrutiny in recent days over anti-Semitic posts by its Grok chatbot. Each of the contracts to xAI, Anthropic, Google and OpenAI have a ceiling value of $200 million, the Pentagon's Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office (CDAO) said in a statement. The awards will enable the Department of Defense "to leverage the technology and talent of US frontier AI companies to develop agentic AI workflows across a variety of mission areas," it said. The contract with xAI comes just days after the company was forced to apologize again for controversial posts by its Grok chatbot. After an update on July 7, the chatbot praised Adolf Hitler in some responses on the X social media platform, denounced "anti-white hate," and described Jewish representation in Hollywood as "disproportionate." xAI apologized for the extremist and offensive messages, and said it had corrected the instructions that led to the incidents. The release on Wednesday of Grok 4, the latest chatbot version, was almost met with scrutiny after it appeared to consult Musk's positions on some questions it was asked before responding. The contract between xAI and the Department of Defense comes even as Musk and President Donald Trump have publicly feuded in recent weeks. Musk, a top backer of Trump's most recent presidential campaign, was entrusted with managing the new agency known as DOGE to massively slash government spending under the current administration. After ending his assignment in May, the South African-born entrepreneur publicly criticized Trump's major budget bill for increasing government debt. The president and the businessman engaged in heated exchanges on social media and in public statements before Musk apologized for some of his more combative messages. The government and the defense sector are considered a potential growth driver for AI giants. Musk's xAI announced on Monday the launch of a "Grok for Government" service, following a similar initiative by OpenAI. In addition to the Pentagon contract, "every federal government department, agency, or office (can now) purchase xAI products" thanks to its inclusion on an official supplier list, xAI said. Meta meanwhile has partnered with the start-up Anduril to develop virtual reality headsets for soldiers and law enforcement. OpenAI had previously announced in June that it had secured a Defense Department contract with a ceiling of $200 million. "Establishing these partnerships will broaden DoD use of and experience in frontier AI capabilities and increase the ability of these companies to understand and address critical national security needs with the most advanced AI capabilities U.S. industry has to offer," said the CDAO statement on Monday.
Int'l Business Times
2 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Supreme Court Allows Trump To Resume Education Department Dismantling
A divided US Supreme Court gave President Donald Trump the green light on Monday to resume dismantling the Education Department. The conservative-dominated court, in an unsigned order, lifted a stay that had been placed by a federal district judge on mass layoffs at the department. The three liberal justices on the nine-member panel dissented. Trump pledged during his White House campaign to eliminate the Education Department, which was created by an act of Congress in 1979, and he moved in March to slash its workforce by nearly half. Trump instructed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "put herself out of a job." Around 20 states joined teachers' unions in challenging the move in court, arguing that the Republican president was violating the principle of separation of powers by encroaching on Congress's prerogatives. In May, District Judge Myong Joun ordered the reinstatement of hundreds of fired Education Department employees. The Supreme Court lifted the judge's order without explanation, just days after another ruling that cleared the way for Trump to carry out mass firings of federal workers in other government departments. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in a dissent joined by justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said in the Education ruling that "only Congress has the power to abolish the Department." "The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave," Sotomayor said. Traditionally, the federal government has had a limited role in education in the United States, with only about 13 percent of funding for primary and secondary schools coming from federal coffers, the rest being funded by states and local communities. But federal funding is invaluable for low-income schools and students with special needs. And the federal government has been essential in enforcing key civil rights protections for students. After returning to the White House in January, Trump directed federal agencies to prepare sweeping workforce reduction plans as part of wider efforts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) -- previously headed by Elon Musk -- to downsize the government. Trump has moved to fire tens of thousands of government employees and slash programs -- targeting diversity initiatives and abolishing the Education Department, the US humanitarian aid agency USAID and others.
Int'l Business Times
2 hours ago
- Int'l Business Times
Trump Sours On Putin, But Bromance May Not Be Over
Ever since his political rise a decade ago, Donald Trump has sung the praises of Vladimir Putin -- the Russian president was a "strong leader" who, perhaps more important, would often say "very good things" about him. With his announcement Monday of new arms for Ukraine via Europe and tariff threats on Russia, Trump's bromance with Putin has hit a new low -- but it may not have run its course. Trump, who had vowed to end the Ukraine war within a day of returning to the White House, said he was "disappointed" in Putin, who has kept attacking Ukraine as if the leaders' telephone conversations "didn't mean anything." "I go home, I tell the first lady, 'You know, I spoke to Vladimir today, we had a wonderful conversation. She said, 'Oh really? Another city was just hit.'" "I don't want to say he's an assassin, but he's a tough guy. It's been proven over the years. He's fooled a lot of people," Trump said. Trump quickly rejected that he was among those fooled and again insisted that the 2022 invasion of Ukraine was the fault of his predecessor Joe Biden, who championed a hard line on Russia. Brandishing his favorite weapon, Trump gave Russia 50 days to comply before facing 100 percent tariffs on countries that purchase from Russia, but stopped short of backing a bill before Congress for up to 500 percent tariffs. Russia's own trade with the United States has slowed down a trickle. Trump had "promised that he could get Putin to the negotiating table, and he has failed to do that," said Heather Conley, a former State Department policymaker on Russia now at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. His tariff threat "shows frustration that he has failed to do it, but I don't see it as a big policy change," she said. Trump stunned European allies on February 28 when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, telling him he was ungrateful for billions of dollars in weapons under Biden. Trump then briefly held up new military and intelligence. For the US president, a transactional-minded businessman, Putin committed a key offense -- undermining Trump's self-image as a deal-maker. "For six months, President Trump tried to entice Putin to the table. The attacks have gone up, not down," Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally who has led the push for tough new sanctions on Russia, told CBS News show "Face The Nation." "One of the biggest miscalculations Putin has made is to play Trump," Graham said. Yet Trump has repeatedly shown a willingness to trust Putin, despite firm warnings from within the US government. Most famously, he sided with Putin over US intelligence at a 2018 news conference after they met in Helsinki after the Russian president denied meddling to support Trump in his first election. For observers of Putin, the longest-serving leader in Moscow since Stalin, there was never much chance he would accept compromise on Ukraine or work with the West. Putin has rued the demise of Russia's influence with the fall of the Soviet Union as a historic calamity and rejected the idea that Ukraine has its own historical identity. With Russia making small but steady gains on the battlefield and bringing in North Korean troops, Putin has put his entire country on war footing, Conley said. "The Kremlin has thrown everything into this," she said. "President Putin believes that this is just going to be a slow erosion of Ukraine's position and the West's position, and he will win this conflict on its own merits," she said. Mark Montgomery, a retired US rear admiral and Senate policy aide, said Putin believed in what has been referred to as TACO -- Trump Always Chickens Out. Putin "thought he could take it to the limit each time, and he found out he was wrong," said Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish research group. "I don't think this stops until Putin feels either weapons system pain or economic pain that he cannot sustain." Civilians wearing military uniforms take part intraining by Ukraine's Third Separate Assault Brigade in the Kyiv region on July 12, 2025 AFP
