Customs duties: Donald Trump puts pressure on the EU and China

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 February 1.

“The EU is very bad for us. They treat us very badly. They don’t take our cars or our agricultural products. In fact they don’t take much,” declared the American president, who added “so they are good for customs duties”.

Questioned by the press at the White House, Donald Trump also assured that his government was discussing “10% customs duties on Chinese products because they send fentanyl to Mexico and Canada”, which is ultimately consumed in the States. -United.

“It’s probably February 1, that’s the date we’re looking at,” added Donald Trump, which corresponds to the date announced the day before for the application of 25% customs duties on Mexican products. and Canadians.

The EU ready to discuss

Present at the Davos Economic Forum (Switzerland) on Tuesday, 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 negotiate,” she assured, “we will be pragmatic but we will remain firm on our principles: the defense of our interests and respect for our values.

But 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.”

“The message we are sending to the rest of the world is simple: we are ready to engage in dialogue with you if this can lead to reciprocal benefits,” she further underlined, assuring that she wanted to “deepen” the relationship between Brussels and Beijing.

Large trade deficit

During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump had already denounced the United States’ trade deficit with the EU, comparing the bloc to “a little China”, which “benefits” from the world’s leading economic power.

“We have a trade deficit with the EU of 350 billion dollars,” he insisted on Tuesday, “China is aggressive but it’s not just China. Other countries are also major aggressors.

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

Causes variables

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 of the European headquarters of large American groups on the island, 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 the EU to impose customs duties on European products unless the bloc increased its purchases of American oil and gas.

He had already imposed customs duties on 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.

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