Products imported from the European Union to the US and from Mexico will be subject to a 30% tariff beginning on August 1, President Donald Trump announced in a letter published on his social media platform this last Saturday. According to the US president, the surcharges on the two countries will be implemented if better trade terms are not offered to the United States.

From August 1, 2025, we will charge the European Union a tariff of only 30% on EU products shipped to the United States, regardless of all sectoral tariffs,” reads the letter published on Truth Social and addressed to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. If Trump’s decision goes ahead, this tariff will also hurt products that the Azores export to the US, such as São Jorge cheese, although the amounts are residual, but not for Azorean companies. Exports to the US could suffer a severe blow with the imposition of tariffs, at a time when exports of various Azorean products were on the rise, namely fish, dairy products, and wood.

According to data from the SREA consulted by Diário dos Açores, exports of fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, the products we export most to the US, were worth €3.2 million last year, compared to €2.6 million the previous year. Next came milk and dairy products, worth €2.58 million, a slight increase on the prior year, which was €2.53 million.

Wood reached €1.78 million last year, up from €1.63 million in 2023.

The remaining products exported from the Azores are worth less than €1 million. In total, last year we exported €9.6 million to the US, up from €9 million the previous year (see statistical analysis by our contributor Rafael Cota on this page).

It should be noted that the US is Portugal’s main non-EU trading partner, with exports of goods to the US accounting for 2% of GDP in 2023. Overall, exports to America are mainly canned fish, soft drinks, pineapples, and meat, which are particularly aimed at the Saudade market–the Azorean diaspora in the US..

Products may become more expensive for immigrants, but this is a negligible share.

For the Azores, any penalties will be offset by tourism, which is unaffected and growing, as Rafael Cota recently wrote in Diário dos Açores. In a recent comment by Catarina Castro, a market analyst at SIC, these tariffs imposed by Trump, rather than bringing economic growth to the US, “are mainly about the need to reduce the external deficit.”

In other words, the “American Way of Life” is disappearing, following the pandemic and other factors that have caused the economy to decline. Now, President Trump wants to restore these values and bring back the American dream. According to political commentators, this was a major reason why many people voted for Trump. However, according to many commentators, these measures will not have the desired effect, and in many cases, the US President will have to accept the negotiations proposed by other countries.

In 2024, Azorean exports to the US represented 9.6 million euros, according to the Azores Regional Statistics Service.

Naturally, the tariffs will have some impact. Still, economists believe that the Azores’ economy will not be “so affected” due to the growth of tourism, which has boosted various sectors and will offset any losses from Trump’s measures, as journalist Rafael Cota pointed out in the same newspaper.

From Correio dos Açores-Natalino Viveiros, director

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.