Trump has promised to impose duties against EU goods

US President Donald Trump said on January 31 that he will impose import duties against goods from the European Union (EU) because of Brussels' appalling treatment of Washington.

"Am I going to impose duties against the European Union...? Absolutely. The European Union treats us so terribly," he said during a White House briefing broadcast by Fox News on YouTube.

Trump explained that this should allow the US to straighten out the situation with the trade deficit.

In addition, the American president said that China, Canada and Mexico will not be able to do anything now to prevent the upcoming imposition of duties by the United States.

According to him, Canada is responsible for significant amounts of drug smuggling into the US. He added that drugs also enter the country through Mexico, blaming China for their production.

How high is the threat of a trade war between the US, EU and China. Parsing

Earlier in the day, Trump announced plans to impose 25 percent duties on imports of goods from Canada and Mexico starting February 1, but the tariffs could rise. The decision was later confirmed by White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt.

On inauguration day, January 20, Trump announced plans to create a foreign revenue service that would regulate duties on goods imported into the United States. Later, on January 25, Politico reported that there were disagreements in Trump's team on the issue of imposing duties on imported goods. According to the newspaper, Trump has not begun to address the issue of duties on foreign goods after his appointment, which indicates his indecisiveness on the issue.

On January 22, Politico Europe reported that the European Union and the UK have prepared retaliatory measures in case Trump raises duties on goods from European countries. It was specified that officials hope that they will be able to convince the American leader to refuse to impose "punitive tariffs" on European products. Nevertheless, if this happens, they are ready to apply retaliatory measures.

Prior to that, on November 6 last year, Politico reported that the EU fears that a new trade war between EU countries and the United States has begun.