Economists had already downgraded growth for the European Union, and the new duties would hit industries there especially hard. Companies are looking for ways to blunt the impact.

Senior EU officials told the FT that they did not expect Trump to ultimately go through with his new threat of 30 per cent tariffs, which is being widely interpreted by Brussels as a bid by the US President to increase pressure on the bloc in the remaining time left for negotiations.

The EU has been a frequent target of Trump's criticism. On 2 April, he proposed a 20% tariff for goods from the bloc, as well as dozens of other trade partners. He then threatened to raise the EU import taxes to 50% as trade talks stalled.