Trump threatens 50% tariffs for EU and 25% penalties for Apple

Washington (AP) – President Donald Trump threatened 50% for all imports of the European Union and a tariff of 25% on Apple products on Friday, unless iPhones will take place in America.

The threats that are equipped with social media reflect Trump's ability to disturb the global economy with a broken writing, and the reality that his tariffs are not yet available the trade transactions he is looking for, or the return of domestic production that he has promised to the voters.

The Republican President said that he wanted to increase higher import taxes for goods from the EU, a long-time US allied, from China, a geopolitical rival in which his tariffs were reduced to 30% this month, so that Washington and Beijing could hold negotiations. Trump was angry about the lack of progress in trade talks with the EU, which proposed to reduce the tariffs to zero, even since the president publicly insisted on receiving a property tax of 10% for most imports.

“Our discussions with them do not go anywhere!” Trump posted socially through the truth. “Therefore, I recommend a 50% tariff to the European Union from June 1, 2025. There is no tariff if the product is built or manufactured in the USA.”

The post had preceded the risk of import taxes against Apple because he plans to further create his iPhone in Asia. Apple now joins Amazon, Walmart and other large US companies in the crosshair of the White House, while trying to react to the uncertainty and inflationary pressure that its tariffs have unleashed.

“I have announced Tim Cook from Apple a long time ago that I would expect your iPhone to be sold in the United States in the United States, in the USA, not in India or elsewhere,” wrote Trump. “If this is not the case, a tariff of at least 25% of Apple must be paid to the USA.”

In response to Trump's tariffs in China, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that most iPhones in the United States would come from India in the United States, whereby iPads and other devices from Vietnam would be imported. After Trump introduced tariffs in April, the bank analysts estimated that an iPhone worth 1,200 US dollars in America would be achieved a price between 1,500 and 3,500 US dollars.

According to Trump's postings, equity futures sold, with the S&P 500 index futures sunk by around 1.3%. The markets have developed a sensitivity of the hair trigger for the statements of the US president and often collapse when he announces high tariffs and gathered when he withdraws from these threats.

The core of Trump's argument against the EU is that America operates a “completely unacceptable” trade deficit with the 27 Member States. Countries carry out trade deficits if they import more goods than export.

From the EU Executive Commission's point of view, trade in the United States is roughly balance if both goods and services are included. As a global center for finance and technology, the United States is operating a trade excess for services with Europe. This is part of the trading gap in the goods and sets the imbalance to 48 billion euros (54 billion US dollars).

Trump helper said the goal of his tariffs was to isolate China and make new agreements with allies, but the chiefs of the President undermine the logic of these claims. The EU could not only be exposed to higher tariffs than China, but the block of the Member States could have been better to set up a broad front with China and other countries against Trump's trade policy, said German economist Marcel Fratscher.

“The strategy of the EU Commission and Germany in the trade conflict with Trump is a total failure,” said Fratscher, head of the German Institute for Economic Research, about X.

Trump is hot and cold in his relationship with Apple, a sign that currying favor does not necessarily protect a company from his anger. He essentially said that he should “eat” the costs of his tariffs instead of increasing prices, even though this could cause profits and layoffs. He now seems to set a similar pressure to force Apple to accept the higher costs for moving its supply chains.

Trump had previously created an exemption for electronics that was imported from China to help companies like Apple, which he could remove now. It also threatened separate 25% import tax on computer chips and could have rewritten the schedule for the tariffs in a way that Apple products could suspend taxes.

Until recently, the US President repeatedly bragged down with the 500 billion US dollars that Apple promised in February. But he turned publicly against the company last week when he spoke in Qatar.

“I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump told the audience. “I said to him: 'My friend, I treated you very well. You come here with $ 500 billion, but now I hear that you are building all over India. I don't want you to build in India.'”

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AP writer David Mchugh contributed to this report from Frankfurt.