Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Donald Trump said he would impose tariffs of 30 per cent on Mexico and the EU from August 1 in a move that would further damage US relations with two of its closest trading partners.
The president issued the new tariff threats in two letters posted to Truth Social on Saturday morning.
While the letter to the EU followed a similar template to more than 20 other threatening missives the US president has posted this week, Trump also accused Mexico of “failing to stop the Cartels’’.
Earlier this year the US threatened Mexico and Canada with tariffs of 25 per cent to retaliate for what Trump said was a failure to halt illegal immigration and the flow of the deadly opioid Fentanyl across the countries’ shared borders with the US.
The prospect of fresh levies on two of the closest US allies and trading partners caps a turbulent week in which Trump has threatened more than 20 countries with tariffs — as well as announcing imminent levies of 50 per cent on copper.
The letter to the bloc comes even though European officials have spent weeks shuttling between Brussels and Washington to hash out a deal that could be accepted by EU member states.
The two sides have been working on plans to reduce the 25 per cent tariff on vehicles and are considering an agreement to abolish levies on spirits, aircraft and parts. The EU is also prepared to reduce its €198bn trade surplus in goods by committing to buy more US weapons and liquefied natural gas.
So far, the EU has not retaliated against Trump’s tariffs, which include a 25 per cent levy on cars and car parts, a 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium, and a baseline 10 per cent tariff on most goods.
Mexico, along with Canada, had already successfully secured significant exemptions from the most dramatic of Trump’s levies.
After unveiling tariffs of 25 per cent on its two biggest trading partners in March, Trump said the tariffs would not apply to any goods that complied with the terms of the US’s 2020 free trade agreement with its neighbours.
The exemption means that about 87 per cent of Mexican goods entered the US tariff-free between January and March this year, according to the Mexican economy ministry.
The Trump administration has also launched national security probes that could lead to tariffs on chips, lumber, aerospace parts, pharmaceuticals and consumer electronics.
