Shipping containers are stacked behind truck flatbeds at the Port of Long Beach, California, on April 2, 2025. Photo: VCG

US President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he's levying tariffs of 30 percent against the EU and Mexico starting Aug. 1, AP News reported on Sunday. The report noted this a move that could cause massive upheaval between the US and two of its biggest trade partners. 

As of press time, the move has sparked strong opposition from numerous affected countries.

The EU said on Saturday it was ready to retaliate to defend its interests if the United States pressed ahead with imposing a 30 percent tariff on European goods from August 1, per Reuters.

Trump announced the latest tariffs in separate letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that were posted on his Truth Social media site on Saturday, according to a Reuters Saturday report.

According to the report, Ursula von der Leyen, head of the EU executive which handles trade policy for the 27 member states, said the bloc was ready to keep working towards an agreement before August 1, but was willing to stand firm.

"We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required," she said of possible retaliatory tariffs on US goods entering Europe, per Reuters. She noted that "A 30% tariff on EU exports would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic."

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday expressed "strong disapproval" of the 30 percent US tariffs on EU exports.

Macron wrote on X that "Along with the President of the European Commission, France shares the same very strong disapproval at the announcement of horizontal 30 percent tariffs on EU exports to the United States from August 1st."

He slammed this announcement comes after weeks of intense engagement by the Commission in negotiations with the US on the basis of a solid offer made in good faith and stressed the need to speed up the preparation of credible countermeasures, "By mobilising all the instruments at its disposal, including anti-coercion, if no agreement is reached by August 1st."

In a joint statement issued the same day on Saturday, Mexico's Ministries of Economy and Foreign Affairs said the government considers the move "unfair treatment" and has initiated negotiations with the US to protect businesses and jobs in the border region.

Additionally, a senior European lawmaker stated on Saturday that Brussels should respond immediately with countermeasures to the US' "outrageous" threat of increasing tariffs on imports from the EU.

"It is brazen and disrespectful to increase the tariffs on European goods announced on April 2 from 20 percent to 30percent," said Bernd Lange, the head of the European Parliament's trade committee, per Reuters.

"This is a slap in the face for the negotiations. This is no way to deal with a key trading partner," he told the Reuters. He added that Europe should make it clear that these "unfair trade practices" were unacceptable.

Recently the Trump administration sent a second set of tariff letters targeting six emerging economies — the Philippines (20 percent), Moldova (25 percent), Iraq (30 percent), Brunei, Algeria, and Libya — with those tariffs scheduled to begin on August 1.

The US will also impose a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods starting August 1, the highest rate announced so far in President Trump's recent letters to foreign governments, according to the Washington Post.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who responded in a forceful statement on X, declaring, "Brazil is a sovereign country with independent institutions that will not accept being taken for granted by anyone."

Most of the countries voicing strong discontent over what they describe as "unfair treatment" by the US are key American trading partners.

Global Times