Published: 9:26pm, 12 Jul 2025Updated: 1:54am, 13 Jul 2025
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that his administration would levy a 30 per cent tariff on goods from Mexico and the 27-nation European Union beginning August 1, targeting two of Washington’s top trading partners after weeks spent trying to forge a more comprehensive deal.
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Trump’s latest set of take-it-or-leave-it letters, addressed to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, could affect more than US$1 trillion in annual imports from the two partners and increase the risk of a global trade war. They cap a week that has seen over two dozen nations receive similar letters announcing US tariffs of up to 50 per cent.
It is not exactly clear what factors Trump has used to reach the tariff levels he metes out, although he has often said that “intuition” and his “gut” drive his policy decisions.
The president is inordinately focused on trade deficits and sees import taxes as an effective way to rejuvenate US manufacturing, foster US surpluses and stem illegal drug use.
“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and have concluded that we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers,” the president told the EU on Saturday, describing the US trade deficit as a “national security” threat.
The “America First” president is no fan of multilateral groupings and has repeatedly claimed that the EU does not play fair with the US and that the bloc was created to “screw” America.