Ultimatum politics: Donald Trump is now threatening EU tariffs of 50 percent

President of the United States of America Donald tramp threatened on Friday to introduce tariffs of 50 percent on goods from Of the European Union, and he cited the lack of progress in the ongoing trade negotiations as the reason.

"Their powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulation, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies, and more, have led to the US trade deficit," Trump wrote on the Truth Social social network, reports CNN.

"Our talks with them are going nowhere! Therefore, I recommend a direct tariff of 50 percent for the European Union, starting June 1, 2025," Trump stressed.

No EU reaction

European Commission spokesman Olof Gill declined to comment on Trump's announcement. He says he is waiting for talks to take place between European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Gill did not specify when Sefcovic and Greer will talk.

Shortly after Trump's announcement, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant told Fox News that "the EU's proposals were not of the same quality as our other important trading partners."

"I'm not going to negotiate on television, but I hope this will shake the EU," Bessent said, adding that "the EU has a problem of collective action."

The tariff Trump is considering imposing on the EU is more than double the 20 percent "reciprocal" tariff that was briefly in place in April before he quickly paused those tariffs to allow for further negotiations.