Trump outlined the proposed tariffs in letters shared on his social media platforms.

These tariffs are part of a broader announcement campaign by Trump targeting both allies and adversaries. It forms a central element of his 2024 campaign strategy, which he believes will lay the groundwork for revitalizing the US economy, one he argues has been exploited by other countries for years.

In his correspondence with Mexico’s leader, President Claudia Sheinbaum, Trump recognized Mexico’s efforts to control the entry of undocumented migrants and fentanyl into the United States.

But he said the country has not done enough to stop North America from turning into a “Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough,” Trump added.

Trump in his letter to the European Union said that the US trade deficit was a national security threat.

“We have had years to discuss our Trading Relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, Trade Deficits, engendered by your Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies, and Trade Barriers,” Trump wrote in the letter to the EU.

“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from Reciprocal.”

The letters come in the midst of an on-and-off Trump threat to impose tariffs on countries and right an imbalance in trade.

Trump in April imposed tariffs on dozens of countries, before pausing them for 90 days to negotiate individual deals.

As the three-month grace period ended this week, Trump began sending his tariff letters to leaders but again has pushed back the implementation day for what he says will be just a few more weeks.

If he moves forward with the tariffs, it could have ramifications for nearly every aspect of the global economy.

EU members and Mexico respond

European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded by noting the bloc’s “commitment to dialogue, stability, and a constructive transatlantic partnership.”

“At the same time, we will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required,” von der Leyen said in a statement.

Von der Leyen added that the EU remains committed to continuing negotiations with the US and coming to an agreement before August 1.

Trade ministers from EU countries are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss trade relations with the US, as well as with China.

European leaders joined von der Leyen in urging Trump to give negotiations more time and warnings of possible new tariffs on Washington.

“With European unity, it is more than ever up to the Commission to assert the Union’s determination to resolutely defend European interests,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement posted on X.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said “it would make no sense to trigger a trade war between the two sides of the Atlantic”.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told broadcaster DR that Trump was taking a “pointless and a very short-sighted approach”. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned in an interview with SVT that “everyone loses out from an escalated trade conflict, and it will be U.S. consumers who pay the highest price”.

Trump, as he has in previous letters, warned that his administration would further raise tariffs if the EU attempts to hike its own tariffs on the United States.

The Mexican government said it was informed during high-level talks with U.S. State Department officials Friday that the Trump letter was coming. The delegation told Trump officials at the meeting it disagreed with the decision and considered it “unfair treatment,” according to a Mexican government statement.

Sheinbaum, who has sought to avoid directly criticising Trump in the early going of her presidency, expressed a measure of confidence during a public appearance on Saturday that the U.S. and Mexico will reach “better terms”.

“I’ve always said that in these cases, you need a cool head to face any problem,” Sheinbaum said.

With the reciprocal tariffs, Trump is effectively blowing up the rules governing world trade. For decades, the United States and most other countries abided by tariff rates set through a series of complex negotiations known as the Uruguay round.

Countries could set their own tariffs, but under the “most favoured nation’’ approach, they couldn’t charge one country more than they charged another.

The Mexico tariff, if it goes into effect, could replace the 25 per cent tariffs on Mexican goods that do not comply with the existing US-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement.

Trump’s letter did not address if USMCA-compliant goods would still be exempt from the Mexico tariffs after August 1, as the White House said would be the case with Canada. Trump sent a letter to Canada earlier this week threatening a 35 per cent tariff hike.

Higher tariffs had been suspended

With Saturday’s letters, Trump has now issued tariff conditions on 24 countries and the 27-member European Union.

The European Union collectively sells more to the US than any other country. US goods imports from the EU topped $553 billion in 2022, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the center-right American Action Forum, said the letters were evidence that serious trade talks were not taking place over the past three months.

He stressed that nations were instead talking amongst themselves about how to minimise their own exposure to the US economy and Trump.

“They’re spending time talking to each other about what the future is going to look like, and we’re left out,” Holtz-Eakin said.

If the tariffs do indeed take effect, the potential impact on Europe could be vast.

The value of EU-U.S. trade in goods and services amounted to 1.7 trillion euros ($3 trillion) in 2024, or an average of 4.6 billion euros a day, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.

Europe’s biggest exports to the U.S. were pharmaceuticals, cars, aircraft, chemicals, medical instruments and wine and spirits.

Lamberto Frescobaldi, president of the Union of Italian Wines trade association, said Trump’s move could lead to “a virtual embargo” of his country’s wine.

“A single letter was enough to write the darkest chapter in relations between two historic Western allies,” Frescobaldi said.

Trump has complained about the EU’s 198 billion-euro trade surplus in goods, which shows Americans buy more goods from European businesses than the other way around.

However, American companies fill some of the gap by outselling the EU when it comes to services such as cloud computing, travel bookings, and legal and financial services.

The US services surplus took the nation’s trade deficit with the EU down to 50 billion euros ($89 billion), which represents less than 3 per cent of overall US-EU trade.