President-elect Donald Trump is threatening tariffs on another U.S. ally. This time, it’s the European Union. 

Trump said he told the EU “they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!”

The trade gap between the U.S. and EU is $131.3 billion as of 2022, according to the U.S. Trade Representative.

This latest tariff threat is on top of the ones Trump has already made on America’s other close trading partners, Canada, Mexico and China.

If the EU were a country, they’d be the second-largest purchaser of U.S. goods behind Canada, and the largest supplier of goods to the U.S., beating China.

In services, the EU leads on both sides as the biggest purchaser of U.S. services and the biggest supplier of services to the U.S. The U.S. has a trade services surplus with the EU at $71.2 billion in 2022. 

European Commission Spokesperson Olof Gill has already responded to Trump’s “frequent comments” about trade between the EU and the U.S. 

“We need to be very clear about the facts here. So the facts are that the EU and US have deeply integrated economies with overall balanced trade and investment,” Gill said. “The EU has a substantial trade in good surplus with the US, whereas the U.S. has a substantial trade in services surplus vis-à-vis the EU.”

“And that is not always reflected in some of the types of posts you’re referencing,” Gill added, seeming to reference Trump’s posts. “We are ready to discuss with President-elect Trump how we can further strengthen an already-strong relationship, including by discussing our common interests in the energy sector. And as you all know very well, the EU is committed to phasing out energy imports from Russia and diversifying our sources of supply.”

When it came to tariff threats on China, Mexico and Canada, Trump specifically tied those threats to immigration and fentanyl. For the EU, his tariff threat attacks the overall trade deficit and ties it to purchasing oil and gas.

The EU is already on its way to increasing those purchases. Data shows U.S. crude oil exports to Europe reached 2.2 million barrels a day over the past year as of June 2024, a 23% increase from the year before. That amount is more than half of all U.S. crude oil exports.

The surge in European purchasing came when the bloc agreed to sanction Russia and reduce reliance on their oil back in 2022. But analysts say the EU is now close to maxing out what they can bring in as far as U.S. crude. 

The trade deficit the U.S. runs with the EU is one Trump has railed on for years.

“We need a reciprocal relationship, which we don’t have. The United States right now has a trade deficit with the European Union of $151 billion,” Trump said in 2018 during a joint press conference with then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “It’s been unfair. And I don’t blame the chancellor, and I don’t blame Germany. I don’t even blame the European Union. I blame the people that preceded me for allowing this to happen.”

Trump issued some targeted tariffs on European goods during his first term. It’s unclear what “tariffs all the way” would mean in a second term.

For other close U.S. trade allies Canada and Mexico, it’s been a 25% tariff threat for all imports.