US President Donald Trump declared yesterday “Liberation Day” and announced the introduction of comprehensive tariffs on the United States for imports from all countries. These measures could lead to serious consequences for global trade and the economy.

The new measures include a basic tariff of 10 percent on all imports, with additional higher rates for certain countries, such as 20 percent for products from the European Union, but also 33 percent for Macedonia. Financial markets reacted negatively to the announcement of the tariffs. Major European stock indices saw a significant drop due to fears of a global recession. Export-dependent sectors, such as the wine industry in Spain, have expressed concern about possible losses.

European leaders have also expressed concern about the possible consequences of these tariffs on the global economy. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called them “fundamentally wrong”, while French Economy Minister François Bayrou said they were a “disaster”. Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, sharply criticized Trump’s tariffs, calling them a “day of inflation.” At a press conference in Strasbourg, Lange said the tariffs would “really hurt people on the ground” and described them as a “mess” that was “unfair” to producers in the US, Europe and the Global South. He stressed that these measures will increase prices in the US and around the world. The European Commission has announced the possibility of introducing countermeasures to protect the European economy.

Trump’s tariffs represent a significant escalation of US protectionist trade policy. The EU trade chief stated that this is not a day of liberation, but a day of rising prices.