Trump threatens EU, smartphones as tariff rhetoric escalates

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump dug in on his threat to impose a 50 per cent tariff on the European Union and said a potential 25 per cent charge on smartphones would apply to all foreign-made devices, in the latest escalation of a trade war that is rattling markets and confusing businesses.

Trump on Friday (May 23) reiterated his complaints about the EU, accusing the bloc of slow-walking negotiations and unfairly targeting US companies with lawsuits and regulations. The president downplayed the ability of the EU to broker a lower tariff rate, which he said would hit Jun 1.

“We have set the deal. It’s at 50 per cent,” he said.

“They don’t go about it right,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I just said, it’s time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game.”

Separately, the president said that a potential 25 per cent tariff he threatened in a social media post on Friday morning against Apple smartphones would also apply to devices from Samsung Electronics “and anybody that makes that product”, and that his administration was moving to impose the levy by the end of June.

“Otherwise it wouldn’t be fair,” Trump said.

Taken together, the threats – which could dramatically reshape US trade on key consumer products – delivered a fresh shock for investors.

Equities held losses after Trump said he was “not looking for a deal” with Brussels. Earlier, losses were nearly erased after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said several trade deals may be struck in the coming weeks. Apple led a sell-off in tech, falling more than 3 per cent.

The president’s missives, first posted early on Friday, represented a fresh round of trade brinkmanship after previously indicating he was looking to wind down talks with partners over his Apr 2 duties, which he paused for 90 days to allow for negotiations.

Trump’s attention this week has mostly been focused on a massive tax and spending package currently being considered by the US Congress.

Trump dismissed concerns that his moves could result in higher prices for Americans, predicting that foreign countries and companies could absorb the cost of the tariffs – or would move manufacturing to the US. Still, he acknowledged that some costs could be passed on to consumers.

“Sometimes the country will eat it. Sometimes Walmart will eat it, and sometimes it will be something to be paid, something extra,” Trump said.

The defiant tone came despite top administration officials saying earlier on Friday that Trump was primarily seeking to drive US trading partners and international corporations to strike better deals.

“The president was getting frustrated with the EU,” Bessent said on Bloomberg Television earlier on Friday. In a previous interview on Fox News, Bessent expressed hope “this would light a fire under the EU”.

The pivot was a notable change in tone from a Group of Seven finance ministers’ meeting earlier this week, where the US Treasury secretary appeared keen on improving relations with Europe, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

Separately, Trump posted to social media that he already told Apple the company’s popular smartphones should be made in the US and that he was nonplussed by its effort to partially move production from China to India. The comments came days after a meeting between the president and Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook, which was disclosed by a White House official.

“I had an understanding with Tim that he wouldn’t be doing this. He said he’s going to India to build plants. I said, ‘that’s OK to go to India, but you are not going to sell into here without tariffs.’”

Trump’s latest posturing comes after the EU earlier this week shared a revived trade proposal with the US in a bid to jump-start talks. The EU’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, is planning to hold a call with Jamieson Greer, his US counterpart, on Friday to take stock of negotiations, a European Commission spokesperson said before Trump’s post.

A spokesperson for the commission declined to comment on the president’s threat ahead of the discussion.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin called Trump’s suggestion “enormously disappointing”.

“Tariffs are damaging to all sides,” Martin posted on X. “A negotiated outcome is the best possible result for both sides, as well as for global trade.”

Trump’s latest tariff threat would hit US$321 billion worth of US-EU goods trade, lowering US gross domestic product by close to 0.6 per cent and boosting prices by more than 0.3 per cent, according to Bloomberg Economics calculations.

The new EU framework covers tariff and non-tariff barriers, as well as ways to enhance economic security, mutual investments, strategic purchases and cooperation on global challenges, according to sources familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the terms, which are not public.

The aim of the paper, which was sent to the White House earlier this week, was to jump-start formal trade negotiations.

Others in Europe saw Trump’s threats as an attempt to gain leverage on the bloc rather than an ironclad directive.

“This is all part of the negotiation; we will look calmly at the proposals and respond robustly and firmly,” Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Friday during a weekly press conference.

But there were signals the negotiations were not proceeding well. One EU official described a prior US proposal as a wish list of unrealistic and unilateral demands, Bloomberg reported earlier. The EU is aiming to cooperate with the US, and is seeking a balanced and mutually beneficial deal. EU officials and many member states remain sceptical that the Trump administration is driven by similar goals.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday said at an Axios event that some trade negotiations had proved “impossible”.

“Like the European Union – it’s just very difficult because, you know, Germany would like to make a deal, but they are not allowed,” Lutnick said.

The EU plans to move forward with preparing countermeasures if negotiations fail to produce a satisfactory outcome. The trade bloc has put together plans to hit 95 billion euros (S$139 billion) of US exports with additional tariffs in response to Trump’s “reciprocal” levies and 25 per cent tariffs on cars and some parts.

European nations agreed earlier this month to delay for 90 days the implementation of a separate set of retaliatory duties against the US over 25 per cent levies Trump imposed on the bloc’s steel and aluminium exports. That move came after Trump lowered his so-called reciprocal rate on most EU exports to 10 per cent from 20 per cent for the same amount of time.

“We are maintaining the same line: de-escalation, but we are ready to respond,” French trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin posted Friday on X. BLOOMBERG