U.S. President Donald Trump said on the 23rd that the European Union is “very difficult to deal with” on trade and that trade negotiations between the United States and the EU have “made no progress.” As a result, he proposed imposing a 50% tariff on goods imported from the EU starting June 1.
In a post on the social media platform “Truth Social” on the same day, Trump claimed that the primary purpose of establishing the EU was to “take advantage of the United States” in trade. He accused the EU of imposing “strong trade barriers, value-added taxes, unreasonable corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, currency manipulation, and unfair and baseless lawsuits against American companies,” among other measures, which have led to a massive U.S. trade deficit with the EU annually. He described this situation as “completely unacceptable.”
Trump further stated that negotiations between the United States and the EU have “made no progress,” prompting him to propose a uniform 50% tariff on EU imports starting from June 1, 2025.
According to data from the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the U.S. goods trade deficit with the European Union reached $235.6 billion in 2024, marking a 12.9% increase from 2023.
In contrast, data from the European Commission show that in 2023, the EU recorded a goods trade surplus of €157 billion with the United States. However, it simultaneously faced a services trade deficit of €109 billion with the U.S. On balance, the EU achieved an overall trade surplus of €48 billion (approximately $54.2 billion) in its trade with the United States in 2023.
