Trump’s threat of 50% tariff on EU hits shares – Daily Business

Renewed global trade tensions, sparked by Donald Trump’s latest tariff threats, sent shockwaves through European stock markets.

The US president has warned that he will impose 50% tariffs on the EU and issued a warning to Californa-based smartphone giant Apple about where its products are manufactured.

European shares took the brunt of the sell-off, sliding by 1.7%. In early trade on Wall Street the US S&P 500 was 1.1 % lower, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1%.

Shares in German carmakers and luxury companies fell sharply. Porsche, Mercedes and BMW were down more than 4% just soon after the announcement.

The UK’s blue-chip FTSE-100 was largely cushioned from the latest blow and was down by just 21.29 points (0.24%) at 8717.97 after recovering from a steeper drop.

Mr Trump used his Truth Social network to declare: “The European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very difficult to deal with.”

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Mr Trump did not believe EU trade offers to the US were good enough and that he hoped the new tariff threat would “light a fire” under officials in talks with Washington.

The EU Commission declined to comment, saying it would wait for a phone call between EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart Jamieson Greer.

Apple and Samsung were told they face a 25% tariff on any devices manufactured outside the United States but imported into the country.