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Leaders from both economies had been trying to negotiate more favorable terms, only to have those efforts blown up by form letters.
July 12, 2025Updated 7:28 p.m. ET
President Trump announced in letters posted to social media on Saturday that he would place a 30 percent tariff on goods from the European Union and Mexico, upending months of careful negotiations and disrupting America’s economic relationships with two of its biggest trading partners.
Mr. Trump’s tariffs would take effect on Aug. 1, like those on many other trading partners.
But the letters to Mexico, America’s largest source of imports, and the European Union, a trading bloc of 27 nations that collectively make up the world’s third-largest economy, are notable. They marked a significant escalation aimed squarely at two of America’s closest and most pivotal trading partners.
Both economies do a huge amount of trade in goods and services with the United States. And both governments have been in intense negotiations with the United States, right up until Mr. Trump’s letters were sent.
Maros Sefcovic, the European Union’s trade commissioner, was in regular contact with the U.S. commerce secretary and trade representative. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, spoke to Mr. Trump. And until very recently, officials had hoped they were on the cusp of a deal.
E.U. policymakers had gradually come around to the possibility that the bloc could face 10 percent across-the-board tariffs on all goods sent to the United States, and were hoping to negotiate exceptions for important products. Many of the policymakers were eager to end the economic uncertainty that Mr. Trump’s trade announcements had unleashed on German carmakers, Italian wine exporters and Irish pharmaceutical companies alike.
But things changed with Mr. Trump’s announcement on Saturday of a flat 30 percent tariff, and his threat to make that rate even higher should the bloc retaliate.
