Trump tariffs put Europe’s far-right leaders in a bind

United States President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are shaping up to be a major headache for his far-right allies in Europe. 

Washington’s decision to impose a 20 percent levy on all European Union imports is set to disproportionately impact the rural and blue-collar workers that have gravitated toward right-wing populist parties across the bloc. That’s left many European political figures who are the MAGA movement’s biggest cheerleaders in an awkward spot.

Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain’s ultranationalist Vox party, tried to walk a dialectical tightrope on the eve of the announcement, insisting that his group was absolutely against the tariffs, and that he had even lobbied against them when he attended the Conservative Political Action Conference conference in Washington in February.

But he simultaneously expressed admiration for Trump, whose inauguration he attended in January, saying he had nothing but respect for a leader who defends “his interests” — even when they “go against ours.”

According to projections from the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Spain’s economy stands to suffer losses of up to €4.3 billion as a result of Trump’s tariffs this year. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez — a Socialist — announced a €14.1 billion industry rescue package on Thursday in response to Trump’s tariffs.

The agri-food sector is expected to be the worst hit: Exports of domestic olive oil, which currently bring in around €1 billion from U.S. consumers, could decline sharply, and the country’s wine sector could be devastated if Trump carries out his threat to respond to retaliatory EU tariffs on bourbon with a 200 percent levy on wines and spirits. 

Meanwhile, Spain’s manufacturing industry, which exported machinery and electrical equipment worth more than €4 billion in 2024, could suffer a 28 percent drop in sales. 

According to Spain’s Center for Sociological Research, Vox is backed by one in every five farm workers and over 10 percent of industrial workers. Abascal on Thursday sought to shift the blame for the economic impact of the tariffs onto mainstream politicians in Madrid and Brussels.

“Neither [Commission President Ursula] von der Leyen, nor Sánchez, nor [center-right opposition leader [Alberto Núñez] Feijóo have defended the interests of the Spanish people,” Abascal wrote on X, complaining that Spaniards were being dragged into a “suicidal trade war.”

“We must expel this corrupt caste that has only brought ruin and loss of freedoms,” he added. “And we will do it.”

Blame Brussels

Far-right leaders in other parts of Europe used similar talking points.

“The European economy, and ultimately the European people, are once again paying the price for the incompetence of Brussels politicians,” Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, a long-time member of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, wrote on Facebook. “The European Commission should have negotiated!”

Szijjártó argued the current situation could have been avoided had Brussels slashed European automotive tariffs from 10 to 2.5 percent and forged a tariff cooperation agreement with Washington.

“[The Commission] did not negotiate; instead, they once again turned an economic issue into an ideological one,” he fumed. “And all this while earning thousands of euros a month …”

The Alternative for Germany used its parliamentary group’s account on X to similarly suggest Europe had brought the levies upon itself.

“This decision throws a spanner in the works of the global economy,” the post read. “It would have been smart if the EU Commission had initiated a reduction of the higher European car tariffs in advance. Now, the response needed above all is an offer of talks.”

European Parliament lawmaker Auke Zijlstra, a member of the Netherlands’ far-right Freedom Party, blamed the EU for the dispute.

In a post on X he argued that it is an “uncomfortable truth” that the EU is levying tariffs on goods coming into the bloc and said free trade was an illusion because Europe applied “general import tariffs for the outside world … Hypocrisy is a word of European origin.”

For its part, France’s National Rally, which is currently focusing most of its public statements on attacking party figurehead Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement conviction, suggested the Trump tariffs weren’t particularly novel.

“Mr. Obama, who appeared to be a nice person, used against France U.S. extraterritorial laws for example by extorting €10 billion to [French bank] BNP Paribas,”  lawmaker Jean-Philippe Tanguy told French radio RMC. 

Tanguy said it was important for Europe to respond with a targeted response, but said the Commission would be “stupid” to react to the dispute by imposing tariffs on U.S. bourbon as it did in 2017. 

“The European Union, we have to admit, is stupid in most measures it adopts,” he added.