US to hit EU imports with 50% tariffs starting 1 June

LONDON (ICIS)–US President Donald Trump has warned of plans to impose a  50% tariff on imports from the EU starting on 1 June.

In a post on the Truth Social platform, which is owned by Trump, on Friday, the US President said negotiations with the EU “were going nowhere” and said the bloc “has been very difficult to deal with”.

“Their powerful Trade Barriers, Vat Taxes, ridiculous Corporate Penalties, Non-Monetary Trade Barriers, Monetary Manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against Americans Companies, and more, have led to a Trade Deficit with the US of more than $250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable,” the post on social media read.

Trump went on to stipulate that no tariff would be applied if the product was built or manufactured in the US, but did not clarify how this would pertain to raw materials higher up the value chain.

As a net importer, the repercussions for the European chemicals industry may be cushioned from direct tariffs, although this could have more of an impact for certain products like benzene or paraxylene (PX).

The EU has declined to respond to the latest announcement. On 9 May, the EU launched a public consultation to determine which US products should be subject to levies, including many chemicals and plastics.

The consultation is scheduled to remain open until 10 June, as the EU Commission also consults on restricting certain EU steel scrap and chemical products worth €4.4bn to the US.

A 50% duty is an escalation from the previous 20% tariff announced by President Trump on 2 April, when levies of varying degrees were applied to most international trading partners, including a 10% baseline rate for the majority of countries.

Tensions between the US and EU eased after a 90-day pause was agreed in early April to allow time for discussions to pave the way for a deal palatable to both parties.

Since the initial announcement, the US secured a deal with the UK, with a 10% tariff for auto parts (down from 27.5%), keeping the previously announced baseline 10% rate in place. In exchange, the US will have increased access to UK chemicals, ethanol, and beef markets.

The US also agreed a 90-day pause with China on 12 May, allowing Chinese imports to the US to be subject to a 30% tax instead of the 145% tariff, with US goods to China held at a 10% rate instead of 125%.

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