Trump says he will impose 25% tariffs on the EU and announces a one-month delay on those on Canada and Mexico

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday during his first Cabinet meeting that he will impose 25% tariffs on imports from the European Union, while stating that the imposition of tariffs on Canada and Mexico will be postponed for another month, until April 2.

The previous deadline for the two North American trading partners was set to expire next week, on March 4. The date had been set in early February, after Trump threatened Mexico and Canada with the immediate imposition of import duties of 25% in general and 10% on energy. The leaders of both countries, President Claudia Sheinbaum and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, respectively, were granted some relief after making concessions to Washington on the management of their respective borders and on the fight against fentanyl trafficking.

Trump announced his change of mind regarding Mexico and Canada when a journalist asked him about the matter. In response to another question, he replied that he had decided to apply 25% tariffs on EU imports, because the union was created, he added, “to annoy the United States.” “We have made a decision and we will announce it very soon. It will be 25%,” said the American president, who again insisted on a habitual tactic since his return to the White House, that of launching these threats, without it being very clear how and in what form they will materialize, but which alone already make the chancelleries of half the world tremble.

The US president also confirmed that the tariffs on Europe would be applied “in a general way”, although he specifically mentioned that they would affect car imports.

The European Union was quick to respond to Trump, insisting that it would react “firmly and immediately” to unjustified tariffs, reported Maria R. Sahuquillo from Brussels. It also attacked the US president’s criticism. “The European Union is the largest free market in the world and it has been beneficial to the United States,” the European Commission defended in a statement. “American companies have been able to invest and generate substantial income, precisely because the EU is a large and unified market that is good for business.” “We must work together to preserve these opportunities for our citizens and companies, not against each other,” said the Community Executive, which has the commercial powers of the bloc, made up of 27 countries and 450 million citizens.

Trump's announcement on the EU threatens to widen a transatlantic trade war with unforeseeable consequences, while Washington doubles down on its rhetoric of attacks on its old allies. The White House is cornering them in the peace negotiations in Ukraine, following the intervention of the American vice president, JD Vance, at the Munich security conference, where he gave an aggressive speech. Vance said that "the worst threat" to Europe "is not Russia, it is not China, it is not an external factor, but the internal threat" which, in his opinion, represents "the withdrawal of some of its fundamental values, values ​​shared with the United States." "Freedom of expression is in decline in Europe," he concluded.

Trump's latest tariff threat comes just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who sat to the right of the president at the White House Cabinet meeting, a meeting in which the star was businessman Elon Musk, cancelled a planned meeting with the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas. Rubio cited "scheduling problems." Kallas is in Washington, where he has traveled to mark the third anniversary of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The words about Mexico and Canada were, on the other hand, somewhat confusing. Trump contradicted himself when he announced that he did not intend to “stop tariffs” because he believes that the United States has been the victim of “years of mistreatment” by its neighbors, who are also Washington’s two main trading partners.

Confusing information

The April 2 date came quickly. And it was not clear whether the president meant he was giving those two countries specifically extra time, or whether he had decided to lump them in with the rest of the countries in the study being conducted by the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative. At the end of that process, it will be decided how the so-called reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on countries around the world. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will propose the specific tariff after studying the products to be applied and the countries from which they come. Lutnick has pledged to have the calculations ready by April 1 so Trump can act the next day.

The measure, in principle, involves taxing purchases from its trading partners at rates equivalent to those they impose on American exports. It is worth noting that Trump equates all structural, regulatory and even fiscal obstacles with tariffs. In particular, he wants to impose tariffs on the European Union in response to the Value Added Tax (VAT), which Washington interprets as a trade barrier.

Since returning to power, it is easy to lose count of the number of times Trump has threatened other countries with tariffs as a pressure measure. Since taking office on January 20, he has used them several times a week (or even more than once a day). One of the most recent was last week at the European Union and the United Kingdom for imposing content moderation rules to combat disinformation and hoaxes on American social networks such as X and Facebook.

During his first term, Trump threatened tariffs on several occasions that never materialized.