Trump Says Phone Tariff Will Come at End of June; Reiterates EU 50% Threat

He was asked by a reporter why he would place a tariff on phones sold by an American company, but not others, and he clarified that a 25% tariff would apply to Samsung and other exporters. "Otherwise it wouldn't be fair," he said.

He didn't give a specific date those tariffs would begin, though he said he thinks his administration will "have that appropriately done by the end of June." The second Trump administration has been moving quickly on Section 232 investigations, including an ongoing one on semiconductors (see 2505150047).

He brushed aside a question from a reporter on whether iPhones could be made domestically at a price that consumers would pay, saying that factories can be automated.

"I had an understanding with Tim [Cook] that he wouldn't be doing this," Trump told reporters. "He said he's going to India to build plants. I said that's okay to go to India, but you're not going to sell into [the U.S.] without tariffs, and that's the way it is."

"There's some products we don't want to make, and frankly, we're much better off getting them elsewhere," Trump said, without naming what they are, or whether baseline tariffs should apply to those goods, too. But, he said, he wants cars sold in the U.S. to be made in the U.S., not Canada.

Several reporters asked him about his threat to impose a 50% tariff on EU goods starting June 1.

He went on a rant about the EU exporting millions of cars to the U.S., and later, complained about lawsuits against Apple, the EU not allowing American agricultural exports, and unspecified trading barriers.

"It's time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game," he said.

One reporter asked if a deal could be arrived at in just nine days; another asked what the EU could do to avoid this rate.

"I'm not looking for a deal. We've set the deal. It's at 50%, but again, there is no tariff if they build their plant here. Now, somebody comes in and wants to build a plant here, I can talk to them about a little bit of a delay. But you know, while they're building their plant ... I think that would be appropriate, maybe," he said.

When asked directly what the EU could do, he said, "I don't know. We're going to see what happens, but right now, it's going on June 1, and that's the way it is."

He also said that after he posted he would impose a "straight 50% tariff" on European exports rather than the 20% announced on Liberation Day, the EU wanted a deal "very badly," but said, "they don't go about it the right way."

The EU didn't respond to Trump's remarks on May 23.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Fox Business after the social media posts and before the president's comments, said, "I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU." He said he believes "the president believes that the EU proposals have not been to the same quality we've seen from our other important trading partners."

Bessent said he's more involved with negotiations with Asian countries, however. "That group has moved forward with some very interesting proposals, they're negotiating in good faith."

Bessent noted the U.S. has already announced a deal with the U.K., and said, "I think there are a couple more coming in the near future."

Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Linda Sánchez, D-Calif., said, “Americans again woke up to a Trump tantrum on tariffs -- this time threatening our European Union allies and singling out a major American company, Apple.

“His tariff chaos has already rattled our markets and put our economy at risk of a recession. He’s now further undermining our standing in Europe and attacking American innovation.

“Congress has authority over trade, not the president. Republicans need to stop cowering to him on tariffs and reclaim our authority to put an end to this madness.”

Outside the administration, voices on the right and left criticized the idea of imposing 50% tariffs on EU goods and a 25% tariff on iPhones.

Bryan Riley, director of National Taxpayers Union’s Free Trade Initiative, said, "Rather than imposing costly new tariffs, the United States should expand on the EU’s proposal to remove all industrial tariffs on a reciprocal basis and should remove U.S. tariffs on inputs that increase the cost of producing goods domestically.

“Threatening new tariffs on Americans who buy goods from U.S. allies and on products made by our largest and most successful companies will not grow the U.S. economy."

Ed Gresser, director for trade at the Progressive Policy Institute, said in a statement: "Mr. Trump’s erratic and destructive tariff campaigns show why the Constitution assigns the power over ‘Taxes, Duties, Imposts, and Excises’ to Congress rather than the president. Granting any single individual personal power to set rates for tariffs or any other tax is an open invitation to abuse of power, corruption, and impulse-driven policy decisions."

He added that Congress could check this overreach, through ending the underlying emergencies that authorized tariffs on Mexico, Canada, China and the reciprocal tariffs.

"It is time for Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator John Thune to join in these efforts to ‘support and defend the Constitution,' halt the economic harm, and reaffirm the separation of powers," he wrote.