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President Donald Trump said this Friday that he is 'recommending' a 50% tariff on European Union products, citing the lack of progress in current trade negotiations.

'Powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous penalties for companies, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified lawsuits against American companies, and much more have led to a trade deficit with the US of over 250 million dollars a year, a number that is totally unacceptable,' Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social network this Friday morning, May 23.

'Our discussions with them are going nowhere!' the American president also wrote. 'Therefore, I am recommending a direct 50% tariff on the European Union, starting June 1, 2025.' In other words, what Trump suggests is the imposition of a similar tax on luxury items, pharmaceuticals, and other goods produced by European manufacturers.

Recall that the tariff war, which began in January when Donald Trump moved to the White House, has experienced several episodes: first there were tariffs for everyone equally, then there were 200% tariffs on EU alcoholic beverages, then there was a pause in tariffs for 90 days - but only for Europe, as for products imported from China, the rates continued to escalate; and after a few days of calm, which is to say, silence from the American president, this week Trump returned to the fray.

In March, the Bank of Portugal had already warned about the detrimental effects of a trade war on the Portuguese economy - and we were not talking about 50% rates. Among the most affected sectors are industrial manufacturing.