<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>US President Donald Trump recommended this Friday the imposition of “straight 50 percent tariff on the European Union, starting June 1” in retaliation for European trade policies, which “have led to a trade deficit with the United States of more than $250 billion a year.”</strong></h4> In a message via Truth Social, Donald Trump wrote this Friday that “the European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on trade, has been very difficult to deal with.” “Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the U.S. of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable,” he continued. “Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States,” he concluded. Trump's threat comes the day after the meeting in Washington between Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which the Spanish foreign minister told his counterpart that “the trade relationship between the United States and Europe” is “mutually beneficial and has guaranteed decades of prosperity” and that “if there are any differences,” they should be “resolved through dialogue and negotiation.” For his part, according to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, Marco Rubio highlighted “President Trump's decisive action to remedy our trade deficit with the EU.” <div class="lRu31" dir="ltr"> <span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Shortly after Trump's announcement, the Ibex 35, the main benchmark stock index of the Spanish stock market, plummeted by two percent.</span></span></span> <div class="OvtS8d"></div> <div id="ow55">On April 2, Donald Trump announced at a press conference on Wednesday the imposition of 20 percent tariffs on the EU. Following this announcement, the European Commission threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25% on a wide range of products imported from the United States, and the Spanish government approved a Trade Response and Relaunch Plan to mitigate the negative impacts of the trade war and "build a shield" to protect the Spanish economy.</div> </div> A week after his initial announcement, Trump decided to postpone for 90 days the imposition of tariffs on countries that had not retaliated against his trade policy, although he left a universal 10 percent tariff in place. Following Trump's latest decision, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also announced the 90-day suspension of the countermeasures prepared by the European Commission in response to US trade policies, in order to "give negotiations a chance." For his part, the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez welcomed Trump's trade truce and expressed his hope that it would be an "open door" to negotiations. Despite the truce, the European Commission announced in May that it would report the United States to the World Trade Organization for tariffs on all foreign imports, including European ones, and reported a second round of retaliation against US products. However, Brussels asserted that its "priority" remained reaching a negotiated agreement with the US to avoid having to resort to this second round. <div class="lRu31" dir="ltr"><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Specifically, the US president's announcement coincides with the resumption of negotiations between the EU and the US to reach an agreement.</span></span> <span class="jCAhz"><span class="ryNqvb">The Commission has insisted that the tariff reduction must be mutual, and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that the European proposal "does not meet the Trump administration's standards."</span></span></span> <div class="OvtS8d"></div> <div id="ow56"></div> </div> <div class="UdTY9 WdefRb" aria-hidden="true" data-location="2"></div>
