Europe and Mexico’s leaders take aim at Trump’s 30% tariffs –
European leaders and the Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum have criticised US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff announcements. As revealed publicly in a post on Trump’s Truth Social, the US President looks to place tariffs of 30% on the EU and Mexico from the 1st of August.
Mexico’s President believed this was “unfair treatment” from one of the country’s biggest trading partners, and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “We have always been very clear that we prefer a negotiated solution. This remains so, and we will use the time we have now until 1 August.”
According to Euro News, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that he has spoken with Von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump and that they agreed to find a solution within the next two weeks. The EU has currently paused retaliatory tariffs which were set to go into effect Monday, the 14th of July.
Elsewhere, it seems global markets are largely becoming used to Trump’s tariff threats. As per Reuters, the Euro dropped 0.13% and the US dollar rose by 0.28% against the Mexican peso. “Judging by the limited market reaction, markets might think that the latest threat from Trump is actually a manoeuvre to extract more concessions,” said Carol Kong, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
