Donald Trump EU tariffs Donald Trump has threatened "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners. Picture: Dominika Zarzycka / NurPhoto via AFP
Image: Dominika Zarzycka / NurPhoto via AFP
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that tariffs on European Union products would be 25 percent in general, and signaled that duties on Canada and Mexico will take effect in early April.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting, Trump described the EU - whose creation was encouraged for decades by Washington - as rooted in an attempt to counter the United States.
"Look, let's be honest, the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States," Trump said.
Asked if he had made a decision on tariff levels for the bloc, Trump added: "We'll be announcing it very soon and it'll be 25 percent, generally speaking."
He said this would hit products including cars, adding that the EU has "really taken advantage of us."
Trump has threatened "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners to counter "unfair and unbalanced" trade.
He has also said he would impose sweeping levies on imports of certain products, such as autos and pharmaceuticals.
Since taking office in January, Trump has announced and paused blanket tariffs on US neighbors Canada and Mexico over illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling.
Asked about the halt, Trump said he was not stopping the tariffs, adding that he planned for levies to take effect on April 2.
"The tariffs go on, not all of them, but a lot of them," he said.
Asian markets fluctuated on Thursday as investors tried to assess US President Donald Trump's latest tariffs salvo, while earnings from chip titan Nvidia failed to impress, despite another record performance.
Hong Kong was again the region's standout performer as the Hang Seng Index (HSI) chalked up a 20 percent year-to-date gain - pushing it above 24,000 points for the first time since 2022 - thanks to another outstanding performance by Chinese tech giants.
However, traders soon took their cash off the table and left the HSI swinging in and out of positive territory, similar to scenes elsewhere in Asia.
The uneven start to the day came after Trump warned he would hit the European Union with 25 percent tariffs.
However, he caused some confusion over the timing and extent of other measures announced against Canada and Mexico, with analysts saying there was still some debate on whether he will delay implementation or water down his plans.
The threat against Brussels comes after Trump went back on the offensive over trade and signed a memo last weekend calling for curbs on Chinese investments in industries including technology and critical infrastructure, healthcare and energy.
Still, economists at Schroders said they were optimistic that the White House's economic policies will be milder than Trump had espoused when running for president.
"Our 'Aggressive Trump' scenario, that assumes high trade tariffs and large deportations, would be stagflationary for the US economy and probably tip the rest of the world into recession," they said in a note.
"But upside risks are also emerging. DeepSeek could speed up the adoption of AI, macroeconomic reform has come back onto the agenda for governments desperate to find growth and bank lending shows signs of life," they added, referring to the Chinese startup that upended the AI universe with its chatbot last month.
"Steep falls in oil prices could also conceivably relieve inflation pressures later in 2025."
AFP
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