President-elect Donald Trump is threatening to add the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he'll place tariffs on — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump on Friday added the 27 countries that make up the European Union to the list of trade partners he’s threatening with tariffs — unless the group takes steps to import more U.S. goods.

“I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas,” Trump posted shortly after 1 a.m. on social media. “Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”

  • AnikiEnglish
    1·
    7 hours ago

    Context/explanation: (at least that’s how i explain it to myself)

    It’s about pride. Trump doesn’t like that the “greatest of all countries” US is threatening to have an (even larger) export deficit with china in the future, so he wants to put up tariffs to slow down international trade; this way the deficit becomes a bit smaller he hopes.

    And while we’re already at it, let’s extend these tariffs to europe, just for good measure, or so