Trump threatens EU with 50 percent tariffs from June

The EU will face tariffs of 50 percent on EU goods starting June 1, US President Donald Trump announced on Friday . Stock prices in the EU collapsed following the announcement.

This move threatens to escalate simmering transatlantic trade tensions into a full-scale trade war.

“The European Union, which was created primarily to exploit the United States in trade, is a very difficult negotiating partner,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

The "powerful trade barriers, value-added taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, currency manipulation, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies, and more have led the EU to a trade deficit with the US of more than $250,000,000 a year, a figure that is totally unacceptable," Trump added.

Stock prices in the EU collapsed following the announcement: The blue-chip STOXX Europe 600 index fell 2.5 percent, the German DAX fell 2.7 percent, and the Paris CAC fell 2.8 percent. The euro also fell 0.5 percent against the dollar, to $1.1302.

According to the EU Commission, the EU currently has a trade surplus in goods and services totaling around 50 billion euros.

EU exporters to the US currently have to pay tariffs of 25 percent on cars , steel and aluminum, as well as a flat levy of 10 percent.

Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will meet with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer today.

The EU Commission initially did not react to the announcement.

(vb)