ISTANBUL, May 23 — United States (US) President Donald Trump has said that trade talks with the European Union (EU) “are going nowhere” and proposed a 50 per cent tariff on EU goods, effective from June 1.
Anadolu Ajansi reported him on Friday as accusing the EU of taking advantage of the US on trade, describing negotiations as 'unproductive'.
“The EU, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the US on trade, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump said in a post on social media.
He cited what he called “powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies,” as contributing to a US trade deficit of more than US$250 billion (RM1.05 trillion) a year.
Trump claimed that goods made in the US would not be subject to the proposed tariffs.
The announcement adds to growing uncertainty in global trade, following his earlier introduction of “reciprocal” tariffs on April 2, targeting over 180 countries.
On that date, the EU had already been subjected to a 20 per cent tariff, but Trump later suspended those tariffs for all countries except China.
Tariffs on China were also lifted after recent trade discussions in Geneva.
Earlier this month, the US president finalised a bilateral trade agreement with the United Kingdom.
— Bernama
