US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday that President Donald Trump is dissatisfied with the quality of the European Union’s trade proposals and hopes that a proposed 50% tariff on EU goods, set to take effect on 1 June, will compel Brussels to take negotiations with Washington more seriously.

Speaking in an interview with Fox News, Bessent stated that while many of the United States’ major trading partners are engaging in good faith, the EU remains an exception. “I believe the president believes that the EU proposals have not been of the same quality that we’ve seen from our other important trading partners,” he said.

Trump escalated trade tensions earlier on Friday by announcing his recommendation for a 50% tariff on EU imports and also warning that Apple could face a 25% tariff on iPhones manufactured outside the US. The remarks followed Bessent’s return from a G7 finance leaders’ meeting in Banff, Alberta, where deep disagreements over US tariffs were largely glossed over in a joint statement focused on addressing global economic imbalances.

“The conversation in Canada was fine. The problem was the lead up to that,” Bessent commented, reflecting on the atmosphere at the G7 discussions. He noted that progress has been made in trade talks with other nations, including India and several Asian countries, which have offered what he described as “very interesting proposals.”

Bessent also suggested internal confusion within the EU is hampering progress. “The feedback I’m getting from some EU countries is that they are unaware of proposals being put forth by the European Commission from Brussels,” he said. “The EU has a collective action problem here. It’s 27 countries, but they’re being represented by this one group in Brussels. I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU.”

Addressing Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on foreign-made Apple iPhones, Bessent said the administration is keen to see more precision manufacturing, particularly of semiconductors, return to the US. “I think that one of our greatest vulnerabilities is this external production, especially in semiconductors. And a large part of Apple’s components are in semiconductors,” he explained. “So we would like to have Apple help us make the semiconductor supply chain more secure.”

Faridah Abdulkadiri

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