Trump announces new tariff threats against EU, Mexico, Canada

The EU because of Google, Mexico because of illness, Canada because of smoke: The US president is throwing around new brutal tariff threats.

Publication date: July 25, 2026, 10:34 AM

Salad in the head: US President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Friday. Photo: Jonathan Ernst

afp/ap/taz | US President Donald Trump has returned to one of his favorite topics: tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. After the erratically acting 80-year-old had recently imposed new tariffs on around 60 international trading partners, replacing the previously applicable global special tariffs of 10 percent on US imports, he now wants to additionally and separately take action against the EU, Mexico, and Canada.

EU Targeted Over Google Fine

The European Union (EU) – already part of the 10 percent group – is on Trump's new punishment list because of the record fine it imposed on Google. The EU will pay a "very high price" for the competition penalty of 890 million euros, Trump declared on Friday on his online service Truth Social. He announced a new tariff investigation against the EU and justified it with the alleged "robbing of American companies."

Trump further wrote that the Europeans would be "imposed a significant tariff as soon as possible."

The EU Commission had only imposed the fine against Google on Thursday. The Brussels competition authorities accuse the technology company, among other things, of favoring its own services in the display of Google search results and thereby disadvantaging competitors.

With the fine, the EU Commission remained far below its capabilities: It corresponds to less than one percent of Google's global annual turnover, with up to ten percent being possible. Trump, however, fundamentally denied the EU the right to penalize competition violations by US corporations in Europe. He referred to similar EU fines against "great American corporations" such as Apple, Meta, and Amazon. The practice is "illegal and highly discriminatory," Trump opined.

The new tariff investigation against the EU is to be carried out, according to his statements, based on Article 301 of the US Trade Act of 1974. It authorizes the US government to investigate practices abroad that it classifies as discriminatory and to take countermeasures, particularly through additional tariffs. Using this law, the Trump administration had already imposed the new tariffs on around 60 international trading partners.

Salad from Mexico, Smoke from Canada

And since Donald Trump is already on his favorite topic, the northern and southern neighbors of the USA are also being showered with tariff threats.

• Mexico: He wants to punish Mexico because of a diarrhea wave in the USA. The US health authorities have traced the illnesses in nine US states to a parasite in salad from Mexico. When asked when eating salad would be safe again, Trump stated that his government would impose high tariffs on goods from Mexico because of the salad.

• Canada: His government would also "impose high tariffs against Canada because of the smoke," Trump explained. He was referring to the smoke from hundreds of wildfires raging in Canada, whose smoke is carried into the USA by the wind. Already on Monday, the White House announced that Trump had ordered tariffs of 50 percent on a range of goods from the neighboring country Canada.

The reason for the measure is a "discriminatory treatment" of alcohol, automotive, and dairy products from the USA by the Canadian government. According to the White House, the new tariffs are to take effect in 30 days. Affected goods include, among others, wine, hockey sticks, and cement from Canada.

Canada Inaugurates Border Bridge Alone

Canada responded, among other things, by canceling a joint opening ceremony for a border bridge between Canada and the USA. The Canadian government inaugurated the $4.7 billion (around 4 billion euros) suspension bridge between Windsor in the Canadian province of Ontario and Detroit in the US state of Michigan on its own.

"This bridge is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together," said Canada's Construction and Infrastructure Minister.