Customs duties: Trump puts pressure on China and the European Union

European countries will be subject to customs duties, “the only way” for the United States “to be treated correctly”, American President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, adding that Chinese products will be taxed at 10% from from 1^is FEBRUARY.

The European Union [UE] is very bad for us. She treats us very badly. They don’t take our cars or our agricultural products. In fact they don’t take muchdeclared the American president, who added so they are good for customs duty.

Questioned by the press at the White House, Mr. Trump also assured that his government was discussing 10% tariffs on Chinese products because they send fentanyl to Mexico and Canadawhich is ultimately consumed in the United States.

It’s probably for the 1^is February is the date we are looking atadded Donald Trump, which corresponds to the date announced the day before for the application of 25% customs duties on Mexican and Canadian products.

Present on Tuesday at the Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the President of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, assured that Europe was ready to discuss with the American government, while recalling that Washington was a trading partner major.

Our first priority is to quickly begin discussions on our common interests and to be ready to negotiateshe assured. We will be pragmatic, but we will remain firm on our principles: the defense of our interests and respect for our values.

However, she also reached out to China, recalling that Europe will continue to advocate cooperation, not only with our long-standing friends, […] but also with all the countries with which we have common interests.

Our message to the rest of the world is simple: we are ready to engage in dialogue with you if it can lead to mutual benefits.she again underlined, assuring that she wanted deepen the relationship between Brussels and Beijing.

Trade deficit

During his presidential campaign, Mr. Trump had already denounced the United States’ trade deficit with theUEcomparing the block to a little ChinaWho take advantage of the world’s leading economic power.

We have a trade deficit with theUE of 350 billion dollars. China is aggressive, but it’s not just China. Other countries are also major aggressors.

The American trade deficit in its trade with theUE amounted to $131 billion in 2023, according to data from the White House Trade Representative (USTR), and is mainly focused on four countries, namely Germany, France, Ireland and Italy.

But the causes vary: the trade deficit with Germany is mainly of an industrial nature, while that with Ireland is largely linked to the installation on the island of the European headquarters of large American groups, which benefit from it. of its very advantageous tax system to reduce their taxes, both in the rest of Europe and in the United States.

Before being re-elected, Donald Trump had already threatened to impose customs duties on European products unless the bloc increased its purchases of American oil and gas.

The European Commissioner for the Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, assured Monday, after the inauguration of Mr. Trump, that theUE was ready to defend its economic interests, as we already did during the first Trump administration when it introduced tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The American president had in fact already imposed customs duties on steel and aluminum in order to protect American industry which he considered to be facing unfair competition from Asian and European countries.

He also imposed a series of European products during his first mandate, in retaliation for the trade dispute between Washington and Brussels over their respective subsidies to their local airline manufacturer, Boeing and Airbus.