Trump announces 30% tariffs against EU, Mexico to begin August 1

BRIDGEWATER New Jersey AP President Donald Trump on Saturday disclosed he s levying tariffs of against the European Union and Mexico Trump revealed the tariffs on two of the United States biggest contract partners in letters posted to his social media account In his letter to Mexico s leader Trump acknowledged that the country has been helpful in stemming the flow of undocumented movers and fentanyl into the United States But he disclosed the country has not done enough to stop North America from turning into a Narco-Trafficking Playground Mexico has been helping me secure the demarcation BUT what Mexico has done is not enough Trump added Trump in his letter to the European Union explained that the U S contract deficit was a national prevention threat We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term large and persistent Transaction Deficits engendered by your Tariff and Non-Tariff Policies and Bargain Limitations Trump wrote in the letter to the EU Our relationship has been unfortunately far from Reciprocal Trump is in the midst of an announcement blitz of new tariffs with allies and foes alike a bedrock of his campaign that he stated would set the foundation for reviving a U S financial sector that he contends has been ripped off by other nations for decades With the reciprocal tariffs Trump is effectively blowing up the rules governing world contract For decades the United States and majority other countries abided by tariff rates set through a series of complex negotiations known as the Uruguay round Countries could set their own tariffs but under the the bulk favored nation approach they couldn t charge one country more than they charged another With Saturday s letters Trump has now issued tariff conditions on countries and the -member European Union The European Union s chief commerce negotiator explained earlier this week that a contract deal to avert higher tariffs on European goods imported to the U S could be reached even in the coming days Maro ef ovi stated EU lawmakers in Strasbourg France on Wednesday that the EU had been spared the increased tariffs contained in the letters Trump sent on Monday and that an extension of talks would provide additional space to reach a satisfactory conclusion The bloc collectively sells more to the U S than any other country U S goods imports from the EU topped billion in according to the Office of the U S Contract Representative Trump on April proposed a tariff for EU goods and then threatened to raise that to after negotiations did not move as fast as he would have liked Sefcovic did not mention any tariff figures The higher tariffs as well as any EU retaliation had been suspended as the two sides negotiate However the base rate of for the majority business partners as well as higher rates of on autos and on steel and aluminum had gone into effect Douglas Holtz-Eakin a former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the center-right American Action Forum commented the letters were evidence that serious bargain talks were not taking place over the past three months He stressed that nations were instead talking amongst themselves about how to minimize their own exposure to the U S market and Trump They re spending time talking to each other about what the future is going to look like and we re left out Holtz-Eakin declared He added that Trump was using the letters to demand attention but In the end these are letters to other countries about taxes he s going to levy on his citizens AP writers Josh Boak in Washington and Dave McHugh in Frankfurt Germany contributed reporting