US President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on the European Union “very soon”, citing a trade deficit of around $300 billion (£237 billion) and claiming the EU was “formed in order to screw the United States”. Trump made these remarks during his first cabinet meeting at the White House since his inauguration in January, with Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, in attendance.

Trump stated, “We have made a decision, we’ll be announcing it very soon and it will be 25% generally speaking and that will be on cars and all other things… They don’t accept our cars, they don’t accept essentially our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not, and we accept everything from them.”

When asked about potential retaliation from the EU, Trump replied, “They can’t, I mean, they can try, but they can’t… They can retaliate, but it cannot be a successful retaliation, because we just go cold turkey, we don’t buy anymore. If that happens, we win.”

This threat comes amid fragile relations between the US and Europe, with the Trump administration seemingly favouring Moscow over Kyiv in its efforts to bring about peace in Ukraine. Trump’s comments have sparked concerns among European leaders, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accusing Trump of living in a Russian-made “disinformation space” after being called a “dictator with no elections” by the US president.