Healing Trade War, Trump Threatens 30 Percent Tariff For European Union And Mexico

JAKARTA - Tensions in the international trade war have risen again after US President Donald Trump announced plans to impose a 30 percent import rate on products from the European Union and Mexico.

The move will take effect on August 1, 2025, if trade negotiations that have not reached a comprehensive agreement.

Trump made the announcement publicly through his Truth Social account quoted on Sunday, July 13. In an official letter addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump called this policy a form of firmness against trading partners who were deemed to have imposed unfair treatment of US products.

The European Union must open its market without tariffs on our products, so that this large trade deficit can be reduced, Trump wrote in his letter.

This tariff threat is not only aimed at the European Union and Mexico. Trump also sent similar letters to 23 other countries, including Canada, Japan and Brazil with a tariff threat of between 20 percent and 50 percent of various commodities, from copper to high-tech components.

This move is seen as part of the Trump-style aggressive trade strategy, which had previously subsided. Some economists see this maneuver as a pressure card so that the US gets a more favorable position in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations.

This 30 percent tariff is even an addition to the sectoral tariff that has already been implemented, such as a 50 percent tariff for steel and aluminum and 25 percent for the automotive sector. This certainly adds a significant burden for exporters to the American market.