Financial markets, which have shown increasing insensitivity to tariff threats from the US, will face a test at the Monday open after President Donald Trump declared a 30% rate for the European Union and Mexico effective Aug.

FINANCIAL markets, which have shown increasing insensitivity to tariff threats from the US, will face a test at the Monday open after President Donald Trump declared a 30 percent rate for the European Union and Mexico effective August 1.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday said he will work intensively with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to resolve the escalating trade war with the United States.

EU trade ministers agreed Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement of 30% tariffs on the European Union was “absolutely unacceptable," and they are studying a new set of countermeasures to respond to the move.