President recommends drastic move and says US trade negotations with European Union are “going nowhere”
In a surprise move, Donald Trump has threatened a 50 per cent tariff on imports from the EU from 1 June.
Posting on his Truth Social channel, the US president said he would impose the new import tax because trade talks between his country and the trading bloc had stalled.
“Our discussions with them are going nowhere! Therefore I am recommending a straight 50 per cent Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025,” he stated.
The imposition of such a high tariff on EU imports would certainly create challenges for fresh produce companies that target the US market.
A recent study by ABN Amro predicted that Dutch food exports to the US — worth around €2.3bn in 2023 — would be more than halved were a 25 per cent import tariff fully passed on to customers.
Trade data from Comtrade indicates the value of the EU’s fresh vegetable exports to the US in 2024 was just below US$444m, up 16.9 per cent on the previous year.
For fruit, the value was lower at just over US$172.5m, although that too was higher than in 2023, by 2.49 per cent.
At the start of April, the US introduced what it called a “reciprocal” 20 per cent tariff on the majority of EU products, but that duty was then halved days later to allow time for talks up to early July.
A 25 per cent tax on EU steel, aluminium and vehicle parts was not lifted, however.
