BRUSSELS: US President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to ratchet up his trade war once again, pushing for a 50 per cent tariff on European Union goods starting June 1 and warning Apple he may slap a 25pc levy on all iPhones bought by US consumers.

The twin threats, delivered via social media, roiled global markets after weeks of de-escalation had provided some reprieve. The S&P 500 fell 1pc in early trading, the Nasdaq fell 1.2pc, and European shares fell 1.5pc.

Trump’s broadside against the EU was prompted by the White House’s belief that negotiations with the bloc are not progressing fast enough. But his sabre-rattling also marked a return to Washington’s stop-and-start trade war that has shaken markets, businesses and consumers and raised fears of a global economic downturn.

The president’s attack on Apple, meanwhile, is his latest attempt to pressure a specific company to move production to the United States, following automakers, pharmaceutical companies and chipmakers. However, the United States does not produce any smartphones — even as US consumers buy more than 60 million phones annually — and moving production would likely increase the cost of iPhones by hundreds of dollars.

“All the optimism over trade deals wiped out in minutes seconds, even,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com, in a note.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Friday that the 50pc EU threat will hopefully “light a fire under the EU,” adding that other countries have been negotiating with Washington in good faith.

“The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere!” The European Commission on Friday declined to comment on the new threat, saying it would wait for a phone call between EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart Jamieson Greer scheduled for Friday. Envoys from the 27 EU countries are also due to meet on trade in Brussels later in the day.

EU to face high prices

Speaking to reporters in The Hague, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said he agreed with the EU’s strategy in trade talks with the United States, and said the EU would likely to see this latest announcement as part of the negotiations. “We have seen before that tariffs can go up and down in talks with the US,” he said.

The White House paused most of the punishing tariffs Trump announced in early April against nearly every country in the world after investors furiously sold off US assets including government bonds and the US dollar. He left in place a 10pc baseline tax on most imports, and later reduced his massive 145pc tax on Chinese goods to 30pc.

“My base case is that they are able to reach an agreement, but I am most nervous about negotiations with European Union,” said Nathan Sheets, global chief economist at Citigroup in New York.

A 50pc levy on EU imports could raise consumer prices on everything from German cars to Italian olive oil. EU’s total exports to the United States last year totalled about 500 billion euros ($566 billion), led by Germany (161 billion euros), Ireland (72 billion euros) and Italy (65 billion euros).

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2025