ROUNDUP 2/Trump: Tariffs of 25 percent for goods from the EU

(Update: EU Commissioner's reaction, 4th paragraph)

WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - US President Donald Trump has announced tariffs of 25 percent on imports from the European Union. "We have made a decision. We will announce it very soon," Trump said during a cabinet meeting in response to a question from a journalist. He then added: "It will be 25 percent, generally speaking, on cars and all other things."

Trump again accused the Europeans of exploiting the USA. The EU was founded "to rip off the USA". This is "the purpose" of the EU.

Trump recently signed an order raising tariffs wherever the US is currently charging less than its trading partners. It doesn't matter whether these are strategic competitors like China or allies like the European Union, according to the White House. The tariffs are not yet in force. The Republican has instructed his team to work out appropriate punitive measures.

EU Commission Vice-President: Europe will react

Stéphane Séjourné, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for industry and the EU internal market, reiterated on X: "Europe will react, immediately and decisively." He also wrote that barriers to fair trade, especially between partners, are unjustified and harm consumers in the US and the EU.

Tariff threats as a negotiating tactic

The US President also surprised everyone with a new date for tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada. These should come into force on April 2, Trump explained. At the beginning of February, shortly before the planned entry into force of punitive tariffs of 25 percent, he accepted concessions from neighboring countries and postponed the trade restrictions by 30 days. This deadline would have meant that the tariffs would take effect at the beginning of March. The new date of April 2 indicates a further postponement. However, when asked by a journalist, Trump did not clearly confirm this.

Trump repeatedly uses tariff threats as a negotiating tactic and constantly throws figures into the room. A few days ago he said that he wanted to impose tariffs of 25 percent on the import of cars into the USA. A concrete announcement was expected for April 2./nau/DP/he