Quick overview

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President Donald Trump, whose ongoing tariff campaign has disrupted international trade since he returned to office in January, threatened Saturday to impose 30 percent duties on goods from Mexico and the European Union, two of America’s largest trading partners.

“The US has committed to maintaining its cooperation with the EU, even though we have one of the biggest trade deficits with you. But we have decided to proceed, but only with more equitable and balanced TRADE,” Trump wrote in the letter he shared on Truth Social to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Trump’s unpredictable policy actions have left everyone, from major nations to individual Americans, trying to figure out how to plan for the future as economic uncertainty increases. He has imposed several tariffs on US trading partners this year, then paused, changed, raised, or lowered them

The EU and Mexico are joining an increasing number of nations whose imports will be subject to updated duties on August 1 since Trump started posting tariff letters with rates as high as 40 percent on Monday.

Trump stated in his letters to the EU and Mexico that the 30 percent tariff applies to all imports, except “Sectoral Tariffs,” like the 25 percent auto tariff. In a statement released Saturday, von der Leyen said the EU is still “ready to continue working towards an agreement” by August 1. However, she argued that a 30 percent tariff on EU exports would harm businesses, consumers, and supply chains on both sides of the Atlantic.

The EU “will take all necessary steps, including the adoption, to safeguard EU interests.”

According to a post on X by Mexico’s Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard, a Mexican delegation told U.S. officials at a meeting on Friday that proposals to set a new tariff rate would be “unfair treatment and that we did not agree.”

However, to find an “alternative to protect businesses and jobs on both sides of the border,” the US and Mexico are negotiating. “The letter makes it very clear that the goal is to agree so that these tariffs are not imposed,” Sheinbaum stated during a speech Saturday in Guaymas. She also expressed confidence that an agreement and better trade terms with the United States will be reached..