Fact check: Are Donald Trump's tariffs on the EU really reciprocal?
Economists tell Euronews Trump's rates are not in any way based on the tariffs imposed by the US' trading partners and therefore cannot be considered an equal measure.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/03/fact-check-are-donald-trumps-tariffs-on-the-eu-really-reciprocal
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Economists tell Euronews Trump's rates are not in any way based on the tariffs imposed by the US' trading partners and therefore cannot be considered an equal measure.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/04/03/fact-check-are-donald-trumps-tariffs-on-the-eu-really-reciprocal
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00Are Trump's tariffs on the EU really reciprocal?
00:07This is what Donald Trump said when announcing new tariffs on the European Union.
00:11It's so pathetic. 39% we're going to charge them 20% so we're charging them essentially
00:18half.
00:19But we verified his claim the EU charges a 39% tariff on US goods and found it's a far
00:23cry from reality.
00:25Experts say EU tariffs imposed on the US lie on average between 2 and 5%.
00:30The European Commission says they stand at around 1%.
00:34So how did Trump achieve such a different figure?
00:36Economists told Euroverify the 39% tariff rate was calculated using a simple formula
00:42by dividing the US's trade surplus with the EU by the EU's exports to the US.
00:48In other words, it has nothing to do with tariffs.
00:55Trump's calculation methods have called into question the 20% tariffs the US plans to impose
01:13on Europe.
01:14A reciprocal tariff would suggest that you put a tariff on to the other country depending
01:18on how high its tariffs are on you.
01:22But in fact, this tariff is based on the size of the trade imbalance, which is not
01:26particularly closely related to the level of tariffs.
01:30The US administration published its methodology online on Wednesday.
01:35The 39% rate reflects tariffs as well as other so-called non-tariff factors, which it says
01:40hinder trade.
01:42These include intellectual property rules as well as environmental and digital regulations.
01:47Economists have been left puzzled by these figures.
01:50To my knowledge, no other country has ever used a formula anything like this to calculate
01:54the tariff levels.
01:55It's a completely new departure and it's taken everybody by surprise.