Trump threatens Canada, EU with larger tariffs if they cause US 'economic harm'

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that larger tariffs could be placed on the European Union and Canada if they both work together "to do economic harm to the USA."

"If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had," he said in a post on Truth Social.

On Wednesday, Trump unveiled a 25% tariff on imported vehicles, expanding a global trade war and prompting criticism and threats of retaliation from affected US allies.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the move as "bad for businesses, worse for consumers," while Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney labelled the tariffs a "direct attack" on Canadian workers and said retaliatory measures were being considered.

The new levies on cars and light trucks will take effect on April 3, the day after Trump plans to announce reciprocal tariffs aimed at the countries responsible for the bulk of the US trade deficit. They come on top of duties already introduced on steel and aluminium, and on goods from Mexico, Canada and China.

The EU has said it will delay its first set of counter-measures to mid-April, including a 50 per cent tariff on US bourbon. In response, Trump threatened to slap a 200 per cent tariff on all wines and other alcoholic products from the EU if the bloc went ahead with this.