The president of the United States, Donald Trump, threatened Friday to increase his commercial war once again, pressing for a 50 percent tariff on the assets of the European Union as of June 1 and warning Apple AAPL.O canbear a 25 percent tax on all iPhones bought by US consumers.
The twin threats, delivered through social networks, the global markets destroyed after weeks of decalcus had provided some respite. The S&P 500 fell 1 percent in early trade, Nasdaq fell 1.2pc and European shares fell 1.5pc.
Trump’s side against the EU was driven by the belief of the White House that negotiations with the block are not progressing quick enough. But its saber noise also marked a return to the Washington Stop and Start War that has shaken markets, companies and consumers and increased the fears of a global economic recession.
Meanwhile, the president’s attack against Apple is his last attempt to press a specific company to transfer production to the United States, following car manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and chips manufacturers. However, the United States does not produce any smartphone, even when US consumers buy more than 60 million phones annually, and move production would probably increase the cost of iPhones in hundreds of dollars.
“All optimism about trade agreements eliminated in minutes, even,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst of City Index and Forex.com, in a note.
The United States Treasury Secretary Scott Besent said Fox News On Friday, the EU threat of 50 percent, hopefully, “will turn on a fire under the EU,” and added that other countries have been negotiating with Washington in good faith.
“The European Union, which formed with the main purpose of taking advantage of the United States in commerce, has been very difficult to drive,” Trump wrote in his real social place. “Our discussions with them are not going anywhere!”
The European Commission refused on Friday to comment on the new threat, saying that he would wait a phone call between EU Chief of EU Maros Sefcovic and his American counterpart Jamieson Greer scheduled for Friday.
The envoys of the 27 EU countries must also meet in the Brussels trade later in the day.
Speaking to journalists in The Hague, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he agreed with the EU’s strategy in commercial conversations with the United States and said the EU would probably see this last announcement as part of the negotiations.
“We have seen before the tariffs can go up and down with conversations with the United States,” he said.
The White House stopped most of the punishment rates that Trump announced in early April against almost all countries in the world after investors furiously sold US assets, including government bonds and the US dollar. A 10 percent reference tax in most imports, and then reduced its great 145 percent tax on Chinese products at 30pc, was left in place.
“My base case is that they can reach an agreement, but I am more nervous about negotiations with the European Union,” said Nathan Sheets, a global chief economist of Citigroup in New York.
A 50 percent tax on EU imports could raise consumer prices in everything, from German cars to Italian olive oil.
Total EU exports to the United States last year totaled around 500 billion euros ($ 566 billion), led by Germany (161 billion euros), Ireland (72 billion) and Italy (65 billion). According to EU data, pharmaceutical products, cars and car parts, chemicals and airplanes were among the largest exports.
The White House has been in commercial negotiations with numerous countries, but progress has been unstable. The financial leaders of the group of seven industrialized democracies tried to minimize disputes over tariffs earlier for the week in the Canadian rock mountains.
“The EU is one of Trump’s least favorite regions, and does not seem to have good relations with its leaders, which increases the possibility of prolonged commercial war between the two,” said Kathleen Brooks, director of Research at XTB.
The actions in Germany Carmakers and luxury companies, some of the most exposed to tariffs, fell into threats.
Volvo Cars’s CEO Hakan Samuelsson said Reuters On Friday, customers would have to pay a large part of the costs of costs related to the rate, and that it could be impossible to import smaller cars in the company to the United States.
But he continued with the hope that Europe and the United States soon reached an agreement.
“It could not be in the interest of Europe or the United States to close trade between them,” said Samuelsson.
Apple declined to comment on Trump’s threat, which would reverse the exclusions it granted to smartphones and other electronic imported largely from China, in a break for large technology companies that sell consumer goods. The shares fell 2.5 percent in Friday’s negotiation.
“A long time ago I informed Tim Cook from Apple that I hope that his iPhones that are sold in the United States of America are manufactured and built in the United States, not in India, or elsewhere,” Trump said in a publication about Truth Social on Friday, referring to Apple’s CEO, without additional details.
According to experts, any effort to impose an apple tariff would face legal obstacles.
“There is no clear legal authority that allows the company’s specific tariffs, but the Trump administration can try to fit it under its emergency power authorities,” said Sally Stewart Liang, a member of Akin Gump in Washington. The company’s specific tariffs would require long investigations, such as Antidumping, Liang said.
Apple is accelerating plans to make most iPhones sell in the United States in Indian factories at the end of 2026 to navigate with potentially higher tariffs in China.
But the chances of moving production to the United States are thinner. In February, Apple said it will spend $ 500 billion in four years in nine US states, but that investment did not intend to take the manufacture of iPhone to the United States.
“It is difficult to imagine that Apple can comply with this president’s request in the next 3-5 years,” said Da Davidson & Co, Gil Luria.
