US stocks opened sharply lower, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 falling more than 1% and the Nasdaq falling more than 1.5%. The “Seven Sisters” of US technology stocks all fell after opening, with Apple falling nearly 4%.
Earlier that day, US President Trump posted on social media that the EU “takes advantage of the United States” in trade and is “difficult to deal with”, and that the negotiations between the United States and the EU “have made no progress”. He will recommend a 50% tariff on goods imported from the EU from June 1. In addition, Trump also said that if the mobile phones sold by Apple in the United States are made in foreign countries, they should face at least 25% tariffs.
After the news of Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on the EU was released, European stock markets plummeted. At around 12:08 GMT, the CAC index in Paris, France, fell 2.8%, and the DAX index in Frankfurt, Germany, fell 2.5%.
German Foreign Minister Waldful said that day that the US threat to impose higher tariffs on EU imports “does not benefit anyone” and will only affect the development of the market economy of both sides.
According to reports, the European Commission declined to comment on Trump’s remarks. Earlier, a European Commission spokesman said that the EU Trade Commissioner and the US Trade Commissioner planned to have a phone call on the 23rd to assess the progress of the negotiations.