Trump threatens EU with tariffs as new trade levies hit 60 nations

President Donald Trump threatened the European Union with "substantial" tariffs Thursday, accusing the bloc of unfairly fining US technology companies, as a separate wave of forced-labor duties covering 60 nations took effect.

"We commit to continuing to use tariffs and to negotiate deals to support the reindustrialization of our economy," US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in Senate testimony Wednesday.

The new forced-labor tariffs, set between 10% and 12.5%, replace the temporary 10% global levy that expired at 12:01 a.m. ET Friday. The duties cover 99.4% of US trade, the Office of the US Trade Representative said. A senior administration official called it "the most sweeping international labor rights action any country has ever taken."

The EU threat marks the latest escalation in Trump's tariff agenda after the Supreme Court struck down his "liberation day" duties in February. The White House this week also imposed 25% tariffs on Brazilian imports and 50% levies on Canadian goods set to begin next month, reintroducing uncertainty for global supply chains.

The EU investigation targets what the administration described as unfair penalties against Google, Apple and other American technology companies. Trump said the bloc had been "robbing" US firms, though he did not specify a tariff rate or effective date for any potential retaliatory measures. The European Commission has levied more than $8 billion in antitrust fines on US tech companies over the past decade, including a record $4.3 billion penalty on Google in 2018.

The latest trade actions show how Trump has shifted to using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 — the same authority deployed during his first-term trade war with China — after the Supreme Court ruling. The previous 10% global tariff, imposed under Section 122, carried a 150-day timer that lapsed Friday. The last time Trump used Section 301 against a major trading partner was in 2019, when he imposed tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods, a move that reduced bilateral trade by roughly 15% over the following year, according to Census Bureau data.

The forced-labor probe, launched in March alongside a separate investigation into excess manufacturing capacity by 16 economies, concluded that targeted countries failed to effectively ban forced labor practices in trade with the US. The second Section 301 investigation has yet to be finalized.

The new duties do not stack on top of existing Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, a senior administration official said, but they add to a growing list of import taxes that have pushed up costs for American businesses. Trump has defended tariffs as tools for generating revenue and gaining leverage over trade partners, while critics argue they function as a tax on US importers and consumers. The Peterson Institute for International Economics has estimated that Trump's tariff rounds could cost the average US household more than $1,200 annually.

The EU threat introduces a new front in Trump's trade agenda at a time when transatlantic economic relations were already strained. The previous US-EU tariff truce, negotiated during the Biden administration, covered industrial goods and avoided the technology sector. Any new duties targeting EU imports over tech fines would represent a significant expansion of the trade conflict, potentially affecting more than $500 billion in annual transatlantic goods trade.

The administration's aggressive use of tariffs faces legal headwinds after the Supreme Court's February ruling invalidated Trump's across-the-board "liberation day" duties, forcing the White House to pursue narrower, statute-specific trade actions. The EU has previously signaled it would retaliate against any US tariffs with countermeasures of its own, a dynamic that could escalate into a full-scale transatlantic trade war.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.