President Trump Declares 30% Tariffs on EU and Mexico—Global Trade Shockwaves Loom!

According to Saed News, President Donald Trump leveled a fresh barrage of trade measures on Saturday, unveiling 30% duties on imports from both the European Union and Mexico in letters addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. Published on his Truth Social platform, the letters cited hefty U.S. trade deficits and Mexico’s alleged failure to curb fentanyl trafficking as justifications for the dramatic escalation.

The tariffs, set to take effect on August 1st, follow Trump’s recent imposition of duties on key Asian allies and several BRICS nations. In his letter to von der Leyen, Trump lambasted the EU’s trade barriers against American goods, offering a path to relief if Brussels dismantles those obstacles and lifts its own levies. Similarly, he warned Mexico that only demonstrable success in “combating cartels and stopping the deadly fentanyl flow” could prompt tariff reductions.

These 30% rates are distinct from earlier, sector-specific levies—such as the 25% duties on steel, aluminum, and autos—that Washington rolled out earlier this year. Trump further threatened that any retaliatory tariffs by Brussels or Mexico would be met with additional U.S. duties, stacking penalties atop the existing 30%. He even dangled the prospect of scrapping the new tariffs altogether if companies from those regions choose to manufacture or assemble their products within the United States.

U.S. Trade Representative data show Mexico and the EU as America’s top exporters, shipping $505 billion and $606 billion in goods, respectively, in the past year. Von der Leyen responded on X (formerly Twitter), pledging to pursue a deal before August 1st while preparing “proportionate countermeasures” to protect European interests. She warned in Rome on Thursday that the dispute could inflict “irreparable damage” on transatlantic relations—and that ties “may never fully recover.”