Trump says to impose 25% tariffs on EU cars, other products

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that his administration has made a decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on products from the European Union, including cars.

"We have made a decision. We'll be announcing it very soon, and it'll be 25 percent generally speaking, and that'll be on cars and all other things," Trump told reporters at a White House Cabinet meeting.

Trump claimed that the European Union has "taken advantage of" the United States. "They don't accept our cars, they don't accept, essentially, our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not. And we accept everything of them, and we have about a 300 billion dollar deficit with the European Union," he said.

Politico previously reported that the US$300-billion deficit is overstated. "In 2023, the US goods trade deficit with the bloc was 155.8 billion euros, according to EU data. In services, however, the US had a surplus of 104 billion euros, bringing the overall trade balance to 51.8 billion euros (US$56 billion)," according the report.

When asked by a reporter whether he would continue to delay tariffs on Mexico and Canada due to progress on border control, Trump said he would not prevent the tariffs from taking effect and claimed that the influx of fentanyl had caused "millions of deaths."

"I'm not stopping the tariffs. No," Trump said.

US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick explained two key deadlines related to the tariffs. Previously, the tariffs on Mexico and Canada had been delayed for one month and is set to take effect on March 4, and the two countries needed to prove to the president before the deadline that they had taken satisfactory actions in controlling the entry of fentanyl. Trump said that "it will be hard to satisfy."

Lutnick also noted that the overall tariff actions against more countries would be implemented on April 2.

On February 1, Trump signed an executive order to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Mexico and Canada, with a 10 percent tariff increase specifically for Canadian energy products. On February 3, Trump announced that the additional tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada would be deferred for one month, allowing more time for negotiations.

On Monday, Trump said that tariffs on Mexico and Canada will "go forward."