Amsterdam’s blue chip AEX was among the European indices to fall sharply on Friday afternoon following US president Donald Trump’s social media post in which he said he planned to levy a 50% import tax on goods from the European Union.

“Their powerful trade barriers, VAT taxes, ridiculous corporate penalties, non-monetary trade barriers, monetary manipulations, unfair and unjustified law suits against American countries and more have led to a trade deficit with the US which is more than €250,000,000 a year, a number which is totally unacceptable,” he wrote.

“Our discussions with them are going nowhere. Therefore I am recommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union, starting on June 1, 2025.”

The AEX and other European indices had largely recovered after falling sharply when Trump first announced in early April he planned to impose a 20% tariff on European goods. He later reduced the tariff to 10% for a period of 90 days following the stock market turmoil.

Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof had a long television conversation with Trump on Thursday evening which he described as “affable”. The talks focused on Trump’s attendance at the Nato summit next month but also included trade.

“In addition, we talked about our common trade interests. I stressed that both the Netherlands and the US benefit from an open trade relationship,” Schoof wrote on social media.

In February, national statistics agency CBS said the Netherlands exported goods worth €28.2 billion to the US in the first three months of this year, while the US exported goods worth €44.4 billion to the Netherlands.

That took the trade deficit to €16.3 billion, the agency said. The deficit is twice as high as a year ago and is largely due to the import of US crude oil and natural gas.

Brussels

The European Commission has not yet commented on Trump’s plan, but does have a €95 billion package of measures ready should talks with the US fail.

The EU and US have started exchanging negotiating documents, but they have made little progress since Trump announced a 90-day negotiation period, the Financial Times said. Officials told the paper that they were not optimistic about reaching a deal.

The AEX was trading down 1.6% on Friday afternoon, with tech and insurance stocks leading the decline.