US President Donald Trump has threatened to ratchet up his trade war again, pushing for a 50 per cent tariff on European Union goods starting June 1.
“Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50 per cent Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025,” Trump wrote on social media.
The threat, delivered via social media, roiled global markets after weeks of de-escalation had provided some reprieve in the tariff battle.
His broadside against the EU was prompted by the White House’s belief that negotiations with the bloc are not progressing fast enough.
And the president’s attack on Apple is his latest attempt to pressure a specific company to move production to the United States, following automakers, pharmaceutical companies and chipmakers. The United States, however, does not mass-produce smartphones – even as American consumers buy more than 60 million phones annually – and moving production would likely increase the cost of iPhones by hundreds of dollars.
Trump told reporters inside the Oval Office that his proposed tariff on Apple would also apply to “Samsung and anybody that makes that product,” apparently referring to smartphones.
He said he expected the new phone levy to be in place by the end of June.
Trump reiterated his complaint that the European Union treated the US badly and restricted the US from selling cars into the EU.
“And I just said, ‘It’s time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game.'”
“I’m not looking for a deal,” Trump said when asked whether he expected a deal before June 1. “We’ve set the deal – it’s at 50 per cent. But again, there’s no tariff if they build their plant here.”
EU trade Chief Maros Sefcovic said the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, was fully committed to securing a deal that worked for both sides, following a Friday phone call with US counterpart Jamieson Greer and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
He added that EU-US trade “must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.”
Speaking to reporters in The Hague, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof backed the EU’s strategy in trade talks and said the EU was likely to see this latest announcement as part of the negotiations.
“We have seen before that tariffs can go up and down in talks with the US,” he said.
The White House paused most of the punishing tariffs Trump announced in early April against nearly every country in the world after investors furiously sold off US assets including government bonds and the US dollar. Trump left in place a 10 per cent baseline tax on most imports, and later reduced his massive 145 per cent tax on Chinese goods to 30 per cent.
A 50 per cent levy on EU imports could raise consumer prices on everything from German cars to Italian olive oil.
The EU’s total exports to the United States last year totalled about 500 billion euros ($A871 billion), led by Germany ($A282 billion), Ireland ($A126 billion) and Italy ($A114 billion). Pharmaceuticals, cars and auto parts, chemicals and aircraft were among the largest exports, according to EU data.
The White House has been in trade negotiations with numerous countries, but progress has been unsteady.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would not comment on potential trade deals, but said on Fox News that there would be more announced as the end of the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs approaches in July.
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