Countries in the European Union are likely to face a flat, double-digit tariff on all goods as part of the “reciprocal” tariffs President Donald Trump has promised to unveil on April 2. The final tariff rate is still fluid, according to three diplomats, who were briefed on European trade chief Maroš Šefčovič’s Tuesday meeting with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and were granted anonymity to share details of the private briefing. The tariffs are expected to kick in at midnight on April 3, the people were told. EU ambassadors to the U.S. were also told there is little they can do to avoid the tariffs going into force, which the Trump administration views as the beginning, not the end, of trade negotiations. European diplomats expect Trump’s April 2 announcement to focus on what the White House has dubbed reciprocal tariffs. According to two of the diplomats, those duties will take the form of a flat percentage for the EU, calculated based on the trade barriers the bloc imposes on U.S. exports, including tariffs on goods and other non-tariff barriers. And those two diplomats suggested the tariff rate applied to the EU could be as high as 20 or 25 percent. All of the tariffs would be additive, meaning they would come on top of tariffs levied on specific industries like steel and aluminum and the 25 percent tariff Trump has ordered on any country that purchases oil and gas from Venezuela, which includes Spain and the Netherlands. Trump has also promised separate tariffs on five industries: steel and aluminum, automobiles, lumber, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products. The White House has already imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum and Trump plans to announce his tariff on automobiles Wednesday afternoon. The tariffs on the other industries could come later in April, as the administration focuses on reciprocal tariffs and the negotiations that ensue, the diplomats were told. “But it is not sure which of the big ones will be targeted at the EU,” one diplomat said. “Maybe they will give us the honor only with some of the sectors such as automotive.” Trump has been openly critical of the EU in recent weeks, after the 27 country bloc announced that it would respond to his steel and aluminum tariffs with its own tariffs on about $28 billion in U.S. goods. Trump has said the EU was created to “screw” the U.S. and has criticized their value-added tax, despite insistence from European countries — and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — that it’s evenly applied to sales in member countries and is not a trade barrier. “I think I’ve been very fair,” Trump told reporters Tuesday. “I’ve had, I have them set, but I think I’ve been very fair to countries that have really abused us economically for many, many decades.”

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will nominate former presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. The pick, which will roil many public health experts, comes after Trump promised to let Kennedy “go wild” with health and food policy in his administration after Kennedy dropped his own presidential bid to endorse the now-president-elect. It’s also a sign of the opening Trump sees after he scored a decisive electoral victory and Republicans won a comfortable majority in the Senate. “For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump posted on X. “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.” Kennedy, 70, may still face a steep slope to confirmation after his years of touting debunked claims that vaccines cause autism, writing a book accusing former National Institutes of Health official Anthony Fauci of conspiring with tech mogul Bill Gates and drugmakers to sell Covid-19 vaccines and saying regulatory officials are industry puppets who should be removed. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Kennedy will be treated like all other nominees. “I don’t have any preconceived notion about it,” Cornyn said. When asked if vaccine positions might make confirmation difficult: “I’m sure it will come up.” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said it’s up to the Senate to confirm or reject Kennedy but was skeptical that he was the right choice. “Is RFK Jr. the best qualified person in the United States of America to lead us forward as we grapple with an enormous amount of health challenges in this country? The answer is clearly he is not,” Jeffries said. In recent weeks, Kennedy has hit the media circuit to say he isn’t taking vaccines away from anyone. “I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them,” he told MSNBC the day after Trump’s win. He also claimed the Trump administration would recommend against fluoride in drinking water, which is added to prevent cavities. Kennedy has said it’s “almost certainly” causing a loss of IQ in children, as some studies have found. Ursula Perano and Ben Leonard contributed to this report.