The president has initiated a process to establish reciprocal tariffs for all, but plans to apply them specifically to target any perceived fiscal, regulatory or commercial barrier
Isnt a sales tax and VAT literally the same thing? Both sales taxes and European VAT are examples of VAT. (I hope theres no differences im missing).
More importantly, VAT usually applies to all products, regardless of origin. And its not that big of a leap now, from calling VAT a tarrif, to call any form of taxes tariffs (incl. income tax).
In particular, he aims to target the European Union in response to its value-added tax (VAT), which applies to all products and is viewed by Washington as a non-tariff barrier.
I guess we learned by now, that basically nothing Trump says makes economic sense (not for the US in general, that is).
That being said: Even though I get used to Trump's insanity, I'm definitely surprised by this one as well.
It's fucking stupid. Most EU countries charge VAT (value added tax) on pretty much everything you buy. It doesn't change based on where the product is made or anything, so it is a level playing field, therefore I don't know wtf Cheeto is attempting to achieve here.