The European Union has said it will  respond “firmly and immediately”  to Donald Trump’s threatened retaliatory  25% tariffs against the 27 countries that together form the U.S.’s third largest trading partner.

According to The Guardian, the EU vowed to push back against what Trump calls “reciprocal” tariffs, but the EU characterizes as “unjustified” trade barriers, signaling that it stands ready to retaliate swiftly against any new tariffs. 

Speaking at his first cabinet meeting on February 26, Trump said the EU was “formed to screw the United States,” and that he would be shortly announcing details on tariffs against the trading bloc, but that, “We have made a decision and we’ll be announcing it very soon. It’ll be 25%.” He added that the levies would be applied “generally,” specifically including cars.

"The EU wasn’t formed to screw anyone," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X February 27. "It was formed to maintain peace, to build respect among our nations, to create free and fair trade, and to strengthen our transatlantic friendship." 

“The EU will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade, including when tariffs are used to challenge legal and non-discriminatory policies,” said a spokesperson for the European Commission -- the EU’s politically independent executive arm --in response to a request for comment on Trump’s remarks. “The EU will always protect European businesses, workers, and consumers from unjustified tariffs,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement February 26.

Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, which left the EU in 2020, is seeking to avoid the same treatment. U.K. Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is visiting the White House February 27, following an apparently unsuccessfully placatory visit from French president Emmanuel Macron February 24. The U.K.’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, said on February 26 that the British government wants to boost commerce with the U.S., its biggest single-country trading partner.

BBC News reported that the U.K.'s trading relationship with the U.S. had suggested it would be less exposed to tariffs than others, but Trump announced February 13 that he would include the U.K.’s 20% value-added tax (VAT) on most goods and services – the equivalent of sales tax in the U.S. -- in calculations of potential tariffs. Analysts have suggested tariffs of 20% or more could be placed on the U.K., but there is as yet no clarity on what Trump proposes.

The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) business group warned that cars, pharmaceuticals, and food and drink were specific goods which could be "significantly hit" by the measures.