European leaders warn against a trade war as Trump prepares for tariffs announcement

Democrats have widely denounced Trump’s agenda on tariffs, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is speaking this morning ahead of the White House announcement.

Jeffries is criticising the Trump administration for its “poor record” on lowering the cost of living for ordinary Americans.

“America is too expensive,” he tells reporters at his weekly press conference. “Costs aren’t going down in America, they’re going up. And the Trump tariffs are going to make things more costly.”

He accuses Trump of driving the US economy towards recession. “This is not liberation day,” he says. “It’s recession day.”

Now we’re hearing similar sentiments from Germany.

The country is Europe’s biggest economy and the third biggest in the world, according to World Bank data, after the US and China. Ahead of Trump’s announcement on new tariffs later today, it’s warning back-and-forth tariffs will be bad for everyone involved.

“The costs of a trade war do not fall on one side but can become expensive for both sides,” says government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit.

He adds that Berlin is “ready and willing to negotiate at the European level with the United States” to avoid being drawn into a trade war.

Germany’s economy is geared towards exports, particularly vehicles and vehicle parts. It exported roughly 3.4 million new cars last year, external, according to German government data, with about 13% of them imported by the US.

however, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has underlined that Mexico will not be seeking “tit-for-tat” retaliatory tariffs on the US, the Reuters news agency is reporting.

She says that a “comprehensive plan” will be announced tomorrow.

As a reminder, Mexico has already seen raised duties on certain products – with President Trump previously imposing 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports as well as additional 25% tariffs on other imports from both Mexico and Canada.

CREDIT:BBC