Donald Trump Releases New Tariff Letters for Mexico & European Union

President Donald Trump threatened to slap a 30 percent tariff on goods imported to the U.S. to Mexico and European Union immediately since August 1 on Saturday after weeks of negotiations with the two major U.S. allies, and top trade partners collapsed to no agreement.

In the next version of the trade war followed by Trump, the new tariffs were declared in distinct letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum published on Truth Social on Saturday.

Some of the biggest trading partners of the U.S are the European Union, opens new tab and Mexico.

This week Trump has issued similar letters to 23 other U.S. trading partners, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, imposing blanket tariffs rates of 20 percent to 50 percent and a 50 percent tariff rate on copper.

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The deadline of August 1 would allow the countries that have received the letters of Trump to negotiate and strike a trade deal, which can be used to reduce the threatened tariff rates.

The 27-country EU had been seeking to get a full trade deal between itself and the U.S.

On Saturday, three European Union officials told Reuters those threats by Trump are a negotiating tactic.

The letter sent by Trump to the EU even mandated Europe to phase out its own tariffs as a supposition of the next agreement.

"The European Union will allow complete, open Market Access to the United States, with no Tariff being charged to us, in an attempt to reduce the large Trade Deficit," Trump wrote.

EU President von der Leyen said the 30% tariffs “would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic.”

She also indicated that EU will however go on working towards trade agreement, they “will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

Canada received another higher tariff rate of 35 percent per against Mexico and both letters referred to the fentanyl flows in spite of the fact that the government statistics indicated that the quantity of the drug halted at the Mexican border was much higher than that of the Canadian border.

"Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough. Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a Narco-Trafficking Playground," Trump wrote.

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The Mexican export more than 80 percent of all exported products to the United States and the free trade with its northern neighbor pushed Mexico to become the U.S. main trading partner in 2023, surpassing China.

The European Union had been preparing itself against the letter by Trump listing the duties that are set to be imposed by him on the largest trade and investment partner of the United States after the recent expansion of his tariff war.

Having initially hoped to achieve an all-embracing trade deal with zero-for-zero tariff rate on industrial goods, months of hard bargaining have left EU to expect that it may have have to make do with a temporary agreement and hope that a much better deal is still on the cards.

The 27-nation bloc is torn between opposing forces because on the one hand the powerhouse Germany has called to find a deal in the shortest time possible to protect its industry and on the other hand other EU members including France have asserted that EU negotiators should not allow themselves be cowed into a sole-sided bargain on U.S. terms.

The waterfall of tariff demands that Trump has issued since being reinstated into the White House is already bringing tens of billions of dollars of fresh income to the U.S. government each month. The U.S. Treasury data on Friday showed that U.S customs duties revenue darted by more than $100 billion during the federal fiscal year to June.

Spokespersons of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico Economy Ministry declined to comment immediately.

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