Goods sold by the 27 EU member states to the U.S. will be subject to a 20% tariff, as announced by Donald Trump. For Spanish exports—just over €18 billion last year—it will have an impact of at least €3.2 billion, or 0.2% of GDP, and will particularly hit capital goods, metallurgy, and agricultural sectors—such as olive oil, fruits and vegetables, or wine—which account for more than €14 billion in exports. These are estimates included in a recent report by CaixaBank Research, which warned that this calculation only referred to direct exports; the damage could be significantly greater when considering what our country contributes to the exports of other countries to the United States, such as automotive components.
Because yesterday the 25% tariffs that Trump decreed for cars manufactured outside the U.S. came into effect. And although our country hardly sells finished cars to the U.S., the components sector is left exposed, with €16.655 billion at risk. Nevertheless, Spain is one of the least affected countries within the EU. The U.S. is the sixth destination for Spanish goods; it receives only 4.9% of the total sales we make outside our borders. The just over 18 billion in Spanish exports to the United States is far from the €161 billion exported there by Germany, €72 billion by Ireland, or €65 billion by Italy.
