Trump Sets EU and Mexico Tariffs at 30%, Citing Trade Imbalance and Fentanyl

President Donald Trump (Getty Images)

President Donald Trump said the U.S. will impose tariffs of 30% on goods imported from the European Union and from Mexico, the latest in a volley of levy announcements involving major economies.

In separate letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, posted on Trump’s Truth Social account Saturday morning, the president said the rates would start Aug. 1.

The European tariff came amid efforts by European leaders, reported by The Wall Street Journal, to close a trade deal with the U.S. that would maintain levies at their current rate of 10%.

Trump said in his letter to von der Leyen Saturday that the 30% tariff was imposed to “move away” from trade deficits with the EU that he attributed to the continent’s own tariffs and other trade policies.

Von der Leyen said in a release on the Commission’s website that the announced tariff on the EU “would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic.”

“We remain ready to continue working towards an agreement by Aug. 1,” she said. “At the same time, we will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

In his letter to Sheinbaum, Trump said the tariffs on goods from Mexico were also being imposed because that country had not done enough to stop fentanyl from being trafficked across the border.

Trump used similar language in a letter posted Thursday to Canada’s Prime Minister, Mark Carney, increasing its tariff rate on Canadian goods to 35%, also starting next month.

Trump had put the current 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico under an emergency order targeting the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

The Mexican government did not immediately respond to messages from Barron’s seeking comment Saturday.

The president has so far informed about two dozen countries what their new tax rates would be if no alternative arrangements were reached by the end of the month.

Trump told both the EU and Canada—as he has other trading partners— that the newly announced tariffs “may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country.”

Trump also said that any attempt to evade the tariffs through transshipments— sending the goods through third countries —would trigger even higher tariffs. He added that if the EU or Mexico retaliated by raising tariffs on the U.S., the U.S. would add that number to the 30% rate.

Most of the revised rates that Trump began outlining earlier this month are roughly in line with what was announced in April, when Trump rolled out his so-called reciprocal tariffs on imported goods from most nations.

One exception is Brazil, which faces a higher rate of 50%. In a letter posted earlier this week, Trump criticized the country’s treatment of its former President Jair Bolsonaro, an ideological ally of Trump who is facing trial for an alleged coup attempt.

Countries that hadn’t received letters from the president with revised rates will face 15%-20% levies, Trump told NBC News Thursday. That’s higher than the current 10% blanket tariffs on goods.

Write to Jacob Adelman at jacob.adelman@barrons.com