EU countries sold significantly less to the United States in April than in March. This is probably due to the import tariffs that American President Donald Trump introduced at the beginning of April.
Figures from the European statistics office Eurostat show that companies in the European Union exported 47.6 billion euros worth of goods to the US in April. That is more than 30 percent less than the 71.1 billion euros in March. There was a sharp increase in that month.
The erratic course of exports to the US is probably due to the policies of the government in Washington. In April, Trump introduced tariffs on all goods that the US imports from abroad. For example, there was initially a tariff of 20 percent for the EU. Later in the month that was reduced to 10 percent.
It was already clear in March that these tariffs were coming. American companies have therefore quickly purchased extra foreign goods. In this way they wanted to avoid Trump’s tariffs for as long as possible. Because although the president sees the tariffs as punishment for foreign countries, it is Americans who actually have to pay the extra tax.
The export decline in April was mainly reflected in a significantly lower export of European chemicals. This has to do with pharmaceutical exports from Ireland, where many large international companies are located because of tax benefits. Irish pharmaceutical exports to the US rose sharply prior to the import tariffs and plummeted in April. It also explains why Irish industry shrank by 15 percent in April.
It was previously revealed that Chinese exports to the US were also significantly lower in April. This was a decrease of 21 percent compared to the same month a year earlier. Trump’s policy also plays a role here: even higher tariffs apply to Chinese goods.