US threatens to impose 17% duty on agricultural exports from Europe

Donald Trump, the US President, threatened to impose a 17% tariff on food and agricultural exports from Europe during talks in Washington last week, The Guardian reports.

The tariffs are expected to hit everything from Belgian chocolate to olive oil from Italy, Spain and France, which are major suppliers to the US.

EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič received the warning on Thursday when he met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, sources confirmed to the newspaper. EU ambassadors were briefed on the tariff escalation threat on Friday.

EU Trade Representative Olof Gill said on Friday evening that the EU’s priority remains “supporting a negotiated solution,” adding that “the latest round of talks this week made progress towards an agreement in principle,” with talks set to continue “substantially over the weekend.” But the EU has also made clear it is prepared for a potential trade war with retaliatory tariffs.

The 90-day pause on Trump’s “exempt tariffs” ends Wednesday for more than 60 countries, in addition to the EU, which was most recently threatened with a 50% tariff, the newspaper recalls.

Tags: EU, agricultural products, USA, duties