US to announce 25% EU import tariffs very soon, Trump says

Ellen O'Donoghue

US President Donald Trump has threatened to slap 25 per cent tariffs on imports from the European Union (EU), The Irish Times reported.

Trump lashed out at the Union, saying it "was formed to screw the United States," in remarks made during the first cabinet meeting of Mr Trump's second term on Wednesday.

“We have made a decision and we’ll be announcing it very soon,” Mr Trump said when questioned about his plans for EU tariffs. “It’ll be 25 per cent generally speaking, and that will be on cars and all other things.”

The EU has a 10% tariff on passenger cars, four times the rate of the U.S. passenger car tariff of 2.5%. U.S. officials have also complained about European value added taxes of at least 17.5%.

The comments raise the prospect of a broad transatlantic trade war that could hurt both European and US economies and inflict damage on frayed dipomatic ties among western allies, according to The Irish Times.

Separately, the US President is preparing to implement 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as the White House tries to rein in what it said was undocumented immigration and fentanyl trafficking.

On Wednesday, Trump said that the levies on Canada and Mexico would take effect on April 2nd.

Just two days ago, French president Emmanuel Macron was hosted by Mr Trump at the White House, for a meeting which included a discussion about trade.

No new details of the proposed tariffs were offered by the president, including what authority he would use, but he renewed fierce attacks on the block.

“They’ve really taken advantage of us in a different way. They don’t accept our cars. They don’t accept essentially our farm products, they use all sorts of reasons why not,” he said.

“Let’s be honest, the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States. That’s the purpose of it. And they’ve done a good job of it.”

Trump's stated plan of imposing a 25% tariff on exports from the European Union to the United States would result in a serious trade conflict, Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told news agency NTB on Wednesday.

Norway is not a member of the European Union but it closely integrated with the bloc on trade.

Additional reporting by Reuters