US President Donald Trump warned the European Union (EU) that tariffs as high as 35% would be imposed on the bloc if its $600 billion investment promise to the US is not met.
The warning was voiced in an interview with CNBC yesterday, where he referred to an agreement he verbally signed with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland on July 27.
According to a statement issued by the White House, the agreement involves a commitment to additional investment by the EU into the US economy by the end of Trump’s second term.
Trump stressed that the EU’s failure to fulfill the commitment would result in tariffs on goods from the bloc being raised back to 35%. Previously, tariffs had been lowered to 15% as part of the confidence in the investment promise.
It is understood that the European Commission on Tuesday agreed to suspend a package of trade retaliatory measures involving €93 billion worth of US goods scheduled to take effect on August 7, as part of efforts to continue negotiations to finalize a joint statement.
However, a Commission spokesperson clarified that the $600 billion investment figure was only based on preliminary information from discussions with industry players, and was not an official guarantee from EU public authorities.
So far, no official statement has been issued by the EU regarding Trump's latest warning.
