Trump Tariffs & Trade War megathread

[Agafin]

EU prepared to accept flat 10% US tariff with conditions, Handelsblatt reports

June 16 (Reuters) - Brussels negotiators hope that offering to accept U.S. tariffs of 10% across all of the European Union's exports into the United States will avert any higher duties on cars, drugs and electronics, newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Monday.

Citing high-ranking EU negotiators, the paper said the offer to U.S. counterparts would come only under certain conditions and would not be billed as permanent.

Handelsblatt also said the EU was, in return, ready to cut its tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles, and to possibly change technical or legal hurdles to make it easier for U.S. manufacturers to sell their cars in Europe.

The EU has also offered to completely ban purchases of Russian natural gas, potentially creating more demand for U.S. producers.

https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-prepared-accept-flat-10-us-tariff-with-conditions-handelsblatt-reports-2025-06-16/

[Agafin]

EU prepared to accept flat 10% US tariff with conditions, Handelsblatt reports

June 16 (Reuters) - Brussels negotiators hope that offering to accept U.S. tariffs of 10% across all of the European Union's exports into the United States will avert any higher duties on cars, drugs and electronics, newspaper Handelsblatt reported on Monday.

Citing high-ranking EU negotiators, the paper said the offer to U.S. counterparts would come only under certain conditions and would not be billed as permanent.

Handelsblatt also said the EU was, in return, ready to cut its tariffs on U.S.-made vehicles, and to possibly change technical or legal hurdles to make it easier for U.S. manufacturers to sell their cars in Europe.

The EU has also offered to completely ban purchases of Russian natural gas, potentially creating more demand for U.S. producers.

https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-prepared-accept-flat-10-us-tariff-with-conditions-handelsblatt-reports-2025-06-16/

I'm regularly mocked for my opinions but more often than not I'm right. As it turns out, replacing a $30 trillion market is actually much more difficult than bluesky or reddit would have you believe.

[Duke 🇺🇸]

Why would the EU care if the US tariffs its own citizens? 10% will be a 10% tax increase on EU products for Americans, but it isn't high enough to reshore jobs in the US. A lot of what we buy from the EU can't be produced domestically anyway.

[emailking]

Americans cut back sharply on their spending last month amid tariffs

Americans are feeling a hangover from their tariff-fueled buying frenzy early in the spring.

Retail sales fell by 0.9% in May from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, down sharply from April’s downwardly revised 0.1% decline. That was the steepest monthly decline since January. The figures are adjusted for seasonal swings but not inflation.

The drop was mostly due to plummeting car sales. Excluding those purchases, retail sales were down a more modest 0.3%.

Early in the spring, Americans rushed to front-load purchases of big-ticket items, especially cars, to beat President Donald Trump’s stiff tariffs. That sent retail sales surging in March, but spending has downshifted markedly since then.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/17/economy/us-retail-sales-may

[Wrong about 2024 Ghost]

https://bsky.app/profile/justinwolfers.bsky.social/post/3lrr7lq6u4s27

Holy crap. The US-UK trade deal is a blank sheet of paper and only Trump signed it. (Genuine screen grab).
‪
"we have our trade agreement with the European Union."

(That's Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, who has no authority over the European Union.)

[Duke 🇺🇸]

Trump is such an embarrassment to this country each and every day.