President Donald Trump threatened Saturday morning to impose 30 percent tariffs on imports from Mexico and the European Union starting Aug. 1, raising the stakes for ongoing negotiations with two crucial trading partners.
Trump made the announcements with letters he posted on Truth Social, writing separate letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
Trump has spent the past several days sending letters to various world leaders, alerting them to what new tariffs the United States would be imposing on them. Since there are still nearly three weeks before they go into effect, it could also be a negotiating move to gain leverage for a different rate. Trump has several times announced tariff rates only to delay their implementation as the time approached.
Trump on April 2 declared that the annual U.S. trade deficit amounted to a "national emergency," and he announced significant new taxes that would be imposed on imported goods. After a week of turmoil in the financial markets, he paused the tariffs for 90 days to allow for negotiations with each country.
But since that time, there have been few deals, and Trump has been rolling out new tariffs in letters.
He threatened on Thursday to impose a 35 percent tariff on Canada starting Aug. 1. He also announced last week a 50 percent tariff on goods from Brazil.
Von der Leyen said in a statement Saturday that the EU was ready to continue negotiations but also indicated they would consider retaliatory steps.
"Imposing 30 percent tariffs on EU exports would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic," she said.
The letter is a curveball for European officials who spent weeks making calls to the White House and traveling to Washington to put together a deal that would bring some tariff relief and avert a spiraling trade war.
EU officials had largely expected in recent days to be spared one of Trump's Truth Social posts. The bloc had reluctantly acquiesced to a skeletal deal that would keep a baseline of 10% U.S. tariffs on most goods, and leave a resolution of thorny trade disputes up to further negotiation.
Brussels and Washington were drawing up an "agreement in principle" that would include exemptions from U.S. tariffs for key industries such as alcohol and aircraft, and the two sides engaged in talks to reduce a 25 per cent U.S. levy on cars.
The EU was also ready to pledge to buy more U.S. goods, notably weapons and liquefied natural gas.