Trump drops European Union tariff bombshell as new front emerges

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

64% : Doug Burgum, who was recently confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Secretary of the Interior, speaks next to his wife Kathryn Burgum and U.S. President Donald Trump on the day Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 31, 2025.
60% : 'No. 1 is the people that have poured into our country so horribly and so much,' he said.
58% : 'The European Union has treated us so terribly,' Trump told reporters as he inked new executive orders.
51% : Trump said in zoom remarks to the World Economic Forum last week that Canada has been 'very tough to deal with over the years.''We don't need them to make our cars, and they make a lot of them.
50% : Because they send us oil, we'll see - it depends on what their price is.'Trump campaigned on the tariffs as a way to boost U.S. production and prevent the country from getting 'ripped off' by other nations.
48% : He made the comments to reporters after the White House announced the new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China would go into effect on Saturday.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made the bombshell announcement that Trump intended to launch a $1.6 trillion war with America's biggest trading partners in an effort to boost domestic manufacturing and raise revenues for the federal government.
48% : She spoke hours after Trump once again said the U.S. doesn't 'need' Canadian exports like lumber or cars that U.S. companies manufacture across the border.
47% : Another analysis, by the Tax Foundation, concluded the 'tariffs on Canada and Mexico alone would increase taxes by $958 billion between 2025 and 2034 on a conventional basis, amounting to an average tax increase of more than $670 per US household in 2025.'With China included, that would amount to 'an average tax increase of more than $830 per US household in 2025.'The administration dismisses the idea that costs would accompany the tariffs, and Leavitt said Trump is committed to permenantly extending his 2017 tax cuts.
46% : Trump said Thursday that he would meet with his advisors to decide whether the tariffs would apply to oil - which impacts products across the board.
46% : 'No. 2 is the drugs fentanyl and everything else that have come into the country, and No. 3 are the massive subsidies that we're giving to Canada and Mexico in the form of deficits' - in a reference to a trade imbalance.
45% : Trump said at the White House Friday he would 'absolutely' put tariffs on the nation's EU allies.
45% : Americans who are concerned about increased prices should look at what President Trump did in his first term.
33% : Donald Trump has announced he will impose tariffs on the European Union - on the eve of snapping new 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico and a 10 percent tariff on China.
33% : Asked if she could guarantee the tariffs won't spike inflation, Leavitt pointed to the past, when Trump slapped tariffs on China that remain. '
28% : The tariffs carry both political and economic risks for Trump, who is just two weeks into his second term.
28% : The U.S. has long had friendly trade relations with both Canada and Mexico, although Trump clashed with both nations over immigration and trade during his first term, ultimately renegotiating NAFTA.
27% : Trump spoke about the tariffs Thursday, complaining about the flow of migrants and fentanylLeavitt brushed off questions raising concerns about whether the tariffs would spike inflation for Americans or provoke an ongoing trade warTrump has repeatedly said the U.S. does not need imports from Canada, which sends cars manufactured by U.S. automakers south along with lumber and agricultural products'We're going to make that determination probably tonight on oil.
26% : However, Trump believes that the tariffs will in the long term re-shape the economy and put dollars back in people's pockets while also piling pressure onto America's neighbors to help cut down illegal immigration.
25% : Trump had said he was weighing issuing an exemption for Canadian and Mexican oil imports, but Leavitt said she had no information to share on the president's decision on any potential carveouts.
20% : Trump said when asked about it - underlying his commitment to the issue.
17% : Leavitt brushed off concerns that the tariffs might spike inflation for Americans who have finally seen prices come down and whether Trump would reverse them in that case.
8% : 'Oil is going to have nothing to do with it as far as I'm concerned' Trump said when questioned about it.
6% : Trump on Thursday night attributed the tariffs to transnational challenges that the U.S. and other nations face: illegal immigration and the flow of illegal drugs.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.