Trump Vows 50% Tariffs on EU Goods From 1st of June

US President Donald Trump has announced the need to impose a 50% duty on imports of goods from the European Union from 1 June. 

The Gaze reports on this with reference to CNBC.

He made the statement on his Truth Social platform, arguing that the EU's trade policy towards the US is unfair.

According to Trump, the European Union imposes numerous trade barriers, including a value-added tax, penalties on US corporations, non-tariff restrictions, currency manipulation and "frivolous lawsuits", which leads to an annual US trade deficit with the EU of more than $250 billion. 

Trump called this "absolutely unacceptable".

He stressed that negotiations with the EU are "not progressing", so he proposed to impose a 50 per cent duty on all EU goods starting from 1 June 2025. 

"I recommend introducing a direct duty of 50 per cent on goods from the European Union starting from 1 June 2025. This duty would not apply to products manufactured or assembled in the United States," he said.

On 12 May, Trump complained that the European Union was "worse than China" when talking about the prospects for bilateral trade.

And US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed doubts about the possibility of reaching a trade agreement with the EU quickly, saying that negotiations are being hampered by the "collective action problem".

As The Gaze reported earlier, the European Union will try to present a united front against US President Donald Trump's tariffs and is likely to approve the first round of countermeasures on imports of US goods worth up to $28 billion.