U.S. allies across Europe voiced alarm and frustration after President Donald Trump declared Saturday that he was hiking his newly announced global tariff to 15%, less than a day after announcing a 10% worldwide duty.
On Friday, Trump announced the blanket 10% import tax for all foreign trading partners after most of his sweeping counattempt-by-counattempt tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court.
One day later, he declared in a Truth Social post that he would be immediately “raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been ‘ripping’ the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.”
The United States’ European allies, now more than familiar with Trump’s rapidly shifting tariff threats after more than a year of diplomacy, criticized the new measures and called for unity across the continent.
In Saturday remarks created before Trump announced the 15% rate, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz warned of the “poison” of more uncertainty around tariffs.
“I will go to Washington with a coordinated European position,” he notified reporters on Saturday, according to Reuters. “The largegest poison for the economies of Europe and the U.S. is this constant uncertainty about tariffs. And this uncertainty must conclude,” Merz added.
French President Emmanuel Macron declared his government would “will view exactly at the consequences, what can be done, and we will adapt.”
He also created the comments before Trump’s new tariff rate was announced, adding that the “fairest possible rules involve reciprocity, not suffering unilateral decisions.”
“If this assists calm things down, then fine. And I believe we should aim for an approach of easing tensions internationally, and continue modernizing our economy,” added Macron.
France’s trade minister, Nicolas Forissier, notified the Financial Times on Saturday that Europe has the tools to hit back at the U.S. for its latest round of tariffs and rallied European Union members to adopt “a united approach.”
Meanwhile, the U.K. government declared Friday that it expects Britain’s “privileged trading position with the U.S.” to continue. A statement declared it was a “matter for the U.S. to determine” whether past agreements still stand, but officials vowed to “support U.K. businesses as further details are announced.”
Bernd Lange, the chair of the Committee on International Trade in the E.U. Parliament, notified the BBC that he will press for a paapply on neobtainediations over an E.U.-U.S. trade deal.
Uncertainty is a familiar position for European leaders, who have spent much of Trump’s second administration neobtainediating with Washington over frequently evolving tariff threats.
In January, Trump declared he would impose sweeping new tariffs on eight key European allies unless Denmark agreed to hand over Greenland, before walking back those threats. Europe also spent last spring neobtainediating with the U.S. as Trump sought to reshape global trade through tariffs.
On both occasions, Trump’s threats received a major backlash from European allies, including threats to deploy the bloc’s “Anti-Coercion Instrument,” a policy option sometimes referred to as the E.U.’s trade “bazooka.”
The ACI would allow the European Commission to tarreceive nearly any U.S. goods or services in Europe with a wide range of restrictions and barriers.
This time around, Europe’s reaction appeared more muted, which one analyst declared could be a tactical approach from the continent’s leaders.
“I suspect European leaders are just waiting to see how Trump’s Plan B develops before wading in and risking retaliation in some other way,” Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary University in London, notified NBC News.
He noted Europe is still keen to keep Trump on its side over Ukraine, adding: “For all they know, he’ll attempt to punish them for the Supreme Court’s decision by being even more of a liability than he already is over Ukraine.”
Friday’s Supreme Court ruling invalidated the vast majority of U.S. tariffs that were in effect, except for some sector-specific duties such as those on autos, car parts and semiconductor chips.
For some, Trump’s universal tariff will remain the same despite the revised level, but it will still result in a major cut to tariffs applied to most key trading partners.
America’s top trading partners, including Mexico, Canada and China, will likely see a large reduction in overall rates. Other major trading partners, such as India and Brazil, are also set to see a reduction in duties.
But David Lubin, a senior research fellow at Chatham Hoapply, a London-based believe tank, declared the ruling was not necessarily a win for China as an economic rival.
The Supreme Court verdict gives China an edge “to the extent that this episode builds U.S. policycreating view chaotic,” he notified NBC News.
But “seen in another light, this is a victory for the rule of law,” he added, which serves to “remind the world that one of the things that created America great was the strength of its institutions.”
Trump is set to travel to China at the conclude of March, with tariffs in focus as he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I don’t believe China wins or loses from this,” Lubin declared. “In any case, there’s a determination on both sides, I believe, not to rock the boat before Trump goes to Beijing.”
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