Brussels – Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” will have a severe impact on Europe. In his address on 2 April at the White House Rose Garden, the US President unveiled new tariffs on all imported goods, effective from 5 April, starting with a minimum 10% tariff for nearly 200 countries, with additional tariffs imposed on around 60 countries deemed the worst offenders.
The so-called “reciprocal tariffs” are seen by the US President as a means to “make America wealthy again” and to counter to the alleged tariffs imposed on the US, “including currency manipulation and trade barriers.” Along with China, the European Union is considered one of the “toughest” partners (also labelled “pathetic” for allegedly imposing 39% tariffs against Washington). As a result, the EU has been subjected to 20% tariffs on all exports to the US.
It is important to highlight the ‘methodology’ used to calculate the alleged tariffs imposed on the US by nearly all countries worldwide. The White House did not assess tariff rates or non-tariff barriers. Instead, as noted by several analysts, it considered the US trade deficit with each country and divided that by the country’s exports to the US. For example, the trade deficit with the EU totals $235 billion, while US imports from the EU amount to $605 billion. This results in an import ratio of 0.39%, which was then multiplied by 100% to estimate the tariff the EU is allegedly charging the US.
Trump’s tariffs on European countries
Aside from the EU, the new US tariffs will affect other European countries in varying degrees. Among EU candidates and potential candidates, six countries will face the minimum 10% tariff threshold (Albania, Kosovo, Georgia, Montenegro, Turkey, and Ukraine), all of which are regarded as imposing similar tariff levels. The situation is quite different for the other four: Moldova (31%), North Macedonia (33%), Bosnia and Herzegovina (35%), and Serbia (37%), having implemented “reciprocal” tariffs on the US ranging from 61% to 74%.
The minimum 10% tariff applies to nearly all European countries that are EU partners but not part of the accession process, including the UK, Iceland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and—rather unexpectedly—San Marino and Monaco. The standout exceptions are Switzerland (31%) and Norway (15%), which have been accused of imposing significant trade barriers against the US, with figures of 61% and 30%, respectively.
Notably absent from the list are Greenland—a Danish autonomous territory the US President has been threatening to annex for months—and, more importantly, Russia and Belarus. According to Axios, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt explained that Russia was excluded because it is already subject to US sanctions, which “preclude any meaningful trade” between the two countries.
However, trade between the US and Russia ($3.5 billion in 2024) is higher than with many countries included on Trump’s list—such as Iceland ($1.1 billion), Serbia ($877 million) and Bosnia and Herzegovina ($186 million)—or even remote island territories like Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Circle ($0.4 million, and only exports from the US).
