Trump announces prices of 30% against the EU, in Mexico, to start on August 1: NPR

Bridgewater, New Jersey – President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he made prices of 30% against the European Union and Mexico from August 1.

Trump announced the prices planned out of two of the largest trade partners in the United States in letters published on his social media account. They are part of a Blitz of Trump’s announcement of new prices with allies and enemies, a foundation of his campaign in 2024 which, according to him, would put the foundations for the revival of an American economy which, according to him, has been scammed by other countries for decades.

In his letter to the chief of Mexico, Trump recognized that the country had been useful to stem the flow of undocumented migrants and fentanyl in the United States. But he said that the country had not done enough to prevent North America from transforming itself into a “narco-vasting playground”.

“Mexico helped me secure the border, but what Mexico has done is not enough,” added Trump.

Trump, in his letter to the European Union, said that the American trade deficit was a national security threat.

“We have had years to discuss our trade relations with the European Union, and we have concluded that we must move away from these long -term, important and persistent trade deficits, generated by your price and not a price, politicians and trade barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter to the EU. “Our relationship was unfortunately far from reciprocal.”

I answer

The president of the European Union commission, Ursula von der Leyen, replied by noting that “the commitment of the block towards dialogue, stability and a constructive transatlantic partnership”.

“At the same time, we will take all the necessary measures to protect the interests of the EU, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if necessary,” said Der Leyen in a press release.

Trump, as he did in the previous letters, warned that his administration would increase prices more if the EU was trying to make his own prices in the United States.

With reciprocal prices, Trump effectively explodes the rules governing world trade. For decades, the United States and most other countries respected by price rates take place through a series of complex negotiations known as Round Uruguay. Countries could establish their own prices – but as part of the “most favored” approach, they could not charge a country more than that they loaded another one.

The Italian government said on Saturday that it continues to “closely monitor” the current trade negotiations between the European Union and the United States, fully supporting the EU Commission efforts.

“We trust the goodwill of all stakeholders to achieve a fair agreement that can strengthen the West as a whole, since, in particular in the current scenario – it would have no sense to trigger a trade war between the two sides of the Atlantic,” said Giorgia Meloni’s office in a press release.

Mexico’s price, if it comes into force, could replace 25% prices on Mexican goods which do not comply with the existing American-mexico-Canadanal free trade agreement.

The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen gives a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Oriental of France, Tuesday July 8, 2025.

Pascal Bastien / AP

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Pascal Bastien / AP

Trump’s letter did not add up if the goods in accordance with the USMCA would still be exempt from Mexico prices after August 1, as the White House said, this would be the case for Canada. Trump sent a letter to Canada earlier this week, threatening an increase in prices of 35%.

Higher prices had been suspended

With the letters on Saturday, Trump has now published pricing conditions on 24 countries and the European Union of 27 members.

The European Union commercial negotiator declared earlier this week than a trade agreement to avoid higher prices on European goods imported into the United States could be concluded “even in the coming days”. Maroš Šefčovič told EU legislators in Strasbourg, France on Wednesday, in France, that the EU had been spared the increased prices contained in the letters that Trump sent on Monday and that an extension of talks would provide “an additional space to achieve a satisfactory conclusion”.

The block collectively sells more in the United States than any other country. American imports of goods from the EU exceeded $ 553 billion in 2022, according to the office of the American commercial representative.

On April 2, Trump proposed a tariff of 20% for EU and then threatened to increase this to 50% after the negotiations did not go as quickly as he would have liked it. Sefcovic did not mention any price.

The higher prices as well as any reprisals of the EU had been suspended as the two parties negotiate. However, the basic rate of 10% for most commercial partners as well as higher rates of 25% on cars and 50% on steel and aluminum had entered into force.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former director of the Congressional Budget Office and President of the American Action Forum of Center-Direct, said that letters proved that serious commercial talks were not underway in the last three months. He stressed that the nations spoke rather of them how to minimize their own exposure to the American economy and Trump.

“They spend time talking about what the future will look like, and we are left out,” said Holtz-Eakin.

He added that Trump used the letters to demand attention, but “in the end, they are letters to other countries on the taxes he will preserve on his citizens”.

The potential impact is large

If the prices take effect, the potential impact on Europe could be vast.

The value of the EU-US trade in goods and services amounted to 1.7 Billion of euros (2 billions of dollars) in 2024, an average of 4.6 billion euros per day, according to the Eurostat EU Statistics Agency

The largest exports from Europe to the United States were pharmaceutical products, cars, planes, chemicals, medical instruments and wine and spirits.

Trump complained about the 198 billion euros of the EU on goods, which shows that Americans buy more goods in European companies than the reverse.

However, American companies fill part of the gap by existing the EU in terms of services such as cloud computing, travel reserve and legal and financial services.

The surplus of services in the United States has lowered the country’s trade deficit with the EU to 50 billion euros ($ 59 billion), which represents less than 3% of the overall trade in the United States.

Before Trump returned to functions, the United States and the EU maintained a generally cooperative commercial relationship and low rate levels on both sides. The American rate was on average 1.47% for European products, while the EU was on average 1.35% for American products.