May 23 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday recommended new tariffs on the European Union, citing difficulties trading with the bloc.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said that the United States should implement a “straight 50% tariff” on goods imported from the EU beginning on June 1.
“The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on trade, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote.
“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!”
He said the proposed tariffs were in response to trade barriers that negatively impact American companies including value-added taxes, corporate penalties and “unjustified lawsuits against American companies,” which he said have resulted in a trade deficit of $250 billion a year between the United States and the EU, adding the number is “totally unacceptable.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News he hoped the tariff warning would “light a fire under the EU.”
“I’ve said before, [the] EU has a collective action problem here. It’s 27 countries, but they’re being represented by this one group in Brussels. So some of the feedback that I’ve been getting is that the underlying countries don’t even know what the EU is negotiationg on their behalf,” Bessent said.
The United States has inked trade deals with Britain and China to reduce tariffs and Bessent said the proposed EU tariffs were in response to the bloc’s “pace” in current negotiations.
“There are 18 important trade deals that we have to do. I’m working mostly on Asia. And that group has moved forward with some very interesting proposals, they’re negotiating in good faith,” he said.
Earlier this month, the EU said it was preparing a list of imported U.S. goods that could be subject to tariffs should the two sides fail to reach a trade deal.
That list was valued at approximately $107 billion.
Trump in early April said the United States planned to impose 20% tariffs on goods from European Union countries.
He later temporarily lowered that number to 10% while the two sides negotiated, while the EU also paused 25% retaliatory tariffs during the 90-day window.