Duties, Trump against Canada and EU: "They are bad but I have the best cards"

"The EU is very bad . But they will soon learn not to be bad, they know what's coming". Donald Trump reignites the trade war. The US president raises his voice with Canada, guilty of targeting star-spangled technology companies, and returns to targeting the European Union. "Canada is copying Europe, but it won't work for Europe and it won't work for Canada ", he says about ten days before the July 9 deadline, which could mark the reinstatement of tariffs for the EU after the temporary halt.

"The European Union was created with the aim of gaining advantages over the United States in trade. They have treated us very badly, but we have the cards in our hands, we have more cards than they do. Now I am negotiating with Ursula (von der Leyen)," he says, referring to contacts with the president of the European Commission.

" They didn't want a deal, as soon as I said I would impose 50% tariffs they started calling for immediate meetings . They have imposed many unfair taxes, they tax our companies like Apple and Google. The judges work for the EU and impose terrible fines, they are bad people: I do not want this to have an effect on American companies", says the president on a day in which the fuse is being relit - according to him - by 'the fault' of the northern neighbors. "We have the cards in our hands, it is difficult to deal with Canada. But we have considerable economic power, we could use it. Canada is copying Europe, but it will not work".

Trump's stance comes in response to Ottawa's introduction of a digital services tax targeting big American tech companies. "We have been told that Canada, a country that is very difficult to trade with, including years of slapping our farmers with tariffs of up to 400% on dairy products, has announced that they are going to introduce a Digital Services Tax on our American tech companies , which is a direct and blatant attack on our country," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) specifically allow Canada to obtain payments from large companies that operate online regardless of the volume of business and the success of the companies: from Meta to Apple, from Google to Microsoft to Amazon, all the star-spangled giants are in the crosshairs of DSTs.

"They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing and with which we are currently in discussion. Based on this outrageous tax, we are announcing the cessation of all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately," the president continued.

" We will let Canada know what the tariff will be for doing business with the United States of America within the next seven days," he anticipated. At the same time, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney tried to keep the channel of communication open: "We will continue to pursue these complex negotiations in the best interest of Canadians. It is a negotiation."

Regardless of tensions with Canada, the U.S. is "in the process" of making trade deals with some countries before the July 9 deadline, Trump says, clarifying that some countries will receive a letter indicating the type of tariffs that will be imposed: "We'll just tell them what they have to pay."

The White House number 1 explains that July 9 is not a fixed deadline for the tariffs to come into force. "We can do what we want, we can extend it, we can shorten it - he says - I would like to shorten it, I would like to send letters to everyone saying 'congratulations, pay 25%'.

In answering questions from reporters at the White House, Trump recalled that deals had been made with "probably four or five countries," pointing to China and the United Kingdom and saying that "we are in the process of making more." "Over the next week and a half, or maybe sooner, we will send a letter to many of the countries that we have spoken to, and we will simply say what they have to pay to do business with the United States," he added.