European markets are heading for a sharply lower open after U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to impose 25% tariffs on imports from the European Union.
The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open 17 points lower at 8,700, Germany’s DAX down 156 points at 22,632, France’s CAC 35 points lower at 8,108 and Italy’s FTSE MIB 364 points lower at 38,918, according to data from IG.
At Trump’s first Cabinet meeting Wednesday, he said that duties against Canada and Mexico would take effect on April 2 and that his trade war will include a 25% tariff on goods from the EU.
“We’ll be announcing it very soon,” he told gathered reporters. “It’ll be 25% generally speaking and that will be on cars and all other things.”
“They’ve really taken advantage of us … They don’t accept our cars, they don’t accept, essentially, our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not. And we accept everything of them,” Trump said in his Cabinet meeting.
The EU has previously rejected Trump’s accusations and said it would respond to any tariffs in a “proportionate” way.
Investors are also looking ahead to another earnings bonanza on Thursday, with Daimler Truck, Swiss Re, AXA, Veolia, Metro Bank, WPP, Iberdrola, St. James’s Place, Taylor Wimpey, Man Group, LSEG, Aviva, Telefonica, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Teleperformance, Saint-Gobain and EDP all due to report.
Data releases will include the latest Spanish inflation rate, Italian business and consumer confidence data, and euro zone economic sentiment figures.