Donald Trump’s deadline passed: US tariffs come into force

The deadline for the introduction of the new US tariffs to many imports from the EU has expired. The trade measures ordered by Donald Trump should come into force at midnight (local time Washington; 6 a.m. German time), as the US President confirmed on his Truth Social platform a few minutes earlier. The European Commission, on the other hand, has previously assumed that the new duty rate of 15 percent on the import of most EU products into the United States will only apply from tomorrow.

In addition to the EU, almost 70 states are affected by the changed customs sets, each with different heights. Trump justifies his radical customs policy with alleged trade deficits that were a national security risk for the United States – that’s why there is a national emergency that justifies the tariff. His approach is also legally controversial.

A few minutes before midnight, Trump announced Truth Social that the tariffs would now come into force. Billions of dollars will flow into the United States, mostly from countries that the United States have exploited and laughed at it for many years, he wrote in capital letters.

Trump had ordered the new tariffs by decree last week. The EU Commission interpreted the deadline differently until the end and only came from an entry into force on Friday (August 8). It remained unclear why both sides did not find a uniform line when communicating the start date.

Other levies apply to states that are not on the long customs list. With China and Mexico, the USA also negotiate separately. On top of that, Trump has threatened or already imposed punitive tariffs against states that do business with Russia in the energy sector and thus indirectly support the Kremlin in the war of attack against Ukraine – so it was justified in the case of the special tariffs for India.

The EU Commission had recently achieved a new fundamental agreement with its American trading partners: This reduced the threatened customs duty by half to 15 percent after Trump had given the United States to most EU exports in the United States.

Critics rated this as the known tactic of the president: placing excessive demands in order to then conclude a compromise that does not meet the worst fears of the opposite side, but significantly approves the United States. The European Commission is now faced with the accusation that it has failed to protect the European market in return with equivalent tariffs on US imports from competition.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said when the deal was announced that the new customs set also applies to cars, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products from the EU. The auto industry – one of the most important industries in Germany and all of Europe – was still disappointed: the new customs is significantly lower than the 27.5 percent that Trump has raised in the past few months – but much higher than the 2.5 percent that appeared on auto imports from the EU. In addition, US cars should be able to be imported into the European Union in the future, while a customs rate of ten percent has been valid so far.

In addition to the 15 percent duty rate, the EU had guaranteed Trump to buy energy from the USA worth $ 750 billion (around 650 billion euros) by the end of its term. According to the Leyens, liquid gas (LNG), oil and nuclear fuel from the United States should fill the gaps that will arise after the planned complete waiver of Russian gas and oil.

In addition, $ 600 billion (almost 520 billion euros) is to be invested in the USA. The EU Commission refers to expressions of interest from European companies. A commission officer made it clear that this was a matter for private companies that the Commission as an authority could not guarantee this. The Commission did not say which companies have expressed investment intentions and in what amount.

In any case, there are different interpretations on both sides of the Atlantic: According to Trump, the investments are available to the United States. They gave us $ 600 billion that we can invest in everything we want, he said in a conversation with the broadcaster CNBC. In fact, it is a gift. This contradicts the information from the EU Commission.

In response to the question of what would happen if the EU should not deliver the investments in question, Trump threatened tariffs of 35 percent. Since the investment commitments are designed for several years, it is unclear when this point could be reached.