Trade wars are back
🔥 JUST Happened Hours Ago! All Hell About To Break Loose Between the US & EU! 🇺🇸🇪🇺
Trump threatens "straight 50%" tariff on European Union
The President Trump threatened to slap 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union early next month in a post on Truth Social on Friday.
Why it matters: The move would escalate global trade tensions after weeks of the White House signaling progress on trade talks.
Trump's sweeping import levies have spooked financial markets and raised recession fears globally.
What they're saying: "I am recommending a straight 50% Tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025. There is no Tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the United States," Trump posted on Truth Social.
Trump suggested that trade negotiations with the European Union, which is currently subject to a 10% tariff, had not been productive.
"Our discussions with them are going nowhere!," Trump said in the post.
The EU is currently running a public review on proposed counter-tariffs on about $100 billion of U.S. products.
The backdrop: The post came minutes after Trump said that Apple would have to pay tariffs "of at least 25%" if iPhones for the American market are not manufactured in the U.S.
Trump expands Apple tariff threat to include Samsung, other phone makers
President Trump on Friday warned Apple that it needed to build U.S.-sold iPhones in the United States or face a 25% tariff.
Why it matters: Apple already committed to a $500 billion U.S. expansion, but now Trump wants more.
It's a dramatic escalation with the tech giant, which was reportedly planning to move production from China to India.
What they're saying: "I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone's [sic] that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else," Trump posted to Truth Social.
"If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S.," he added.
The intrigue: Later Friday, Trump suggested the tariff would actually affect all cellphone companies that import into the U.S., as soon as next month.
"It would be more, it would be also Samsung and anybody that makes that product, otherwise it wouldn't be fair," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "So anybody that makes that product and that'll start on, I guess, the end of June it'll come out."
Trump also claimed he had "an understanding" with Cook that Apple could not sell India-made iPhones in the U.S. without tariffs.
White House spokespeople did not immediately return emails for comment.
Apple did not return a request for comment.
By the numbers: Analysts have said a U.S.-manufactured iPhone would be prohibitively expensive.
"For US consumers, the reality of a $1000 iPhone being one of the best-made consumer products on the planet would disappear," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives wrote recently.
He suggested making iPhones in "New Jersey, or Texas, or another state" would boost their price tag to $3500.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comments.
iPhones are usually purchased on a monthly payment plan anyway, so stretch out the payments like automotive loans; consumers will not upgrade so often, and recycling of used phones and landfills will benefit.