Trump reignites the tariff war: surprise ultimatum to the EU

ByEditor

May 8, 2026

Trump reignites the tariff war: surprise ultimatum to the EU

Donald Trump’s ultimatum to the European Union on tariffs: if Brussels does not respect the agreement signed in 2025 with the United States by 4 Julytariffs will increase “vertiginously”. “I had an excellent telephone conversation with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,” Trump writes on the social network Truth. “We discussed many topics, including our total unity in believing that Iran will never be able to acquire nuclear weapons. We agreed that a regime that kills its own people cannot control a bomb capable of killing millions of people”, says Trump, highlighting the common line between the US and the EU in relation to Iran.

The sore points concern the trade agreement between the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean. “I have waited patiently for the EU to respect its obligations deriving from the historic trade agreement signed in Turnberry, Scotland, the largest trade agreement ever”, says Trump recalling the agreement reached a year ago. On that occasion, says the American president, “the promise was made that the EU would respect its part of the agreement and, as expected, would eliminate the tariffs”. For Washington, Brussels is in default: “I agreed to give time” to the EU “until the 250th anniversary of the birth of our country”, he says, referring to the date of next July 4th. “Otherwise, unfortunately, tariffs will immediately increase dramatically”, he concludes.

Duties for cars and trucks

The new either/or comes less than a week after the measure announced by Trump in relation to cars and trucks produced in the European Union. On May 1, the American president announced that “in consideration of the fact that the European Union is not respecting our fully agreed trade agreement, next week – therefore already in these days – I will increase the tariffs applied to the European Union for cars and trucks entering the United States. The tariff will be increased to 25%”. On May 1, the EU’s reaction came in the words of a Commission spokesperson: “We remain fully committed to a predictable and mutually beneficial transatlantic relationship. If the United States adopts measures incompatible with the Joint Declaration, we will keep all our options open to protect the EU’s interests.”

Rubio, Tajani and tariffs

The topic of duties will be on the table of the meeting scheduled for tomorrow between the Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, and the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. We have a “frank, calm” relationship, Tajani said. Rubio “is not responsible for tariffs”, but “our position is always the same. We don’t want trade wars. We also hope that the European Parliament will hurry to approve the agreements signed with the United States. Even my political family, the European People’s Party, wants to conclude as quickly as possible. We will talk about this. Trade wars are useless”, explained Tajani.