Trump threatens crippling attack on the EU that’ll leave key industry on its knees
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President Donald Trump has threatened the European Union with a 17% tariff on food exports, according to a new report.
The threat came ahead of a July 9 deadline to strike a trade deal or else the EU faces a 50% tax on all its goods going into the United States.
EU officials told the Financial Times the move is an escalation between the two trading partners.
It was unclear if the 17% hit on food and farm exports would be in addition to the other tariffs announced by Trump or instead of them.
Should the U.S. and EU fail to cut a deal by next week’s deadline, then EU goods imported to the U.S. could be hit by duties of up to 50%.
That could be swiftly followed by retaliatory measures from the EU that would target a wide range of American goods.
President Trump is pushing a 17% tax on all foods from EU into the US
The U.S.-EU trade relationship is one of the biggest in the world, accounting for around 30% of global goods.
Among the products exchanged are medicinal and pharma products, road vehicles, and food stuffs.
In 2024, trade between the two was valued at around 1.68 trillion euros – or $1.98 trillion.
The EU has a surplus of 198 billion euros when it comes to goods, but a deficit of around 148 billion euro in services given the Europeans an overall trade surplus of around 50 billion euros.
