The United States and the European Union have reached a preliminary trade deal to avoid a 30% U.S. tariff on imported goods from the EU that President Donald Trump threatened would go into effect on Aug.

The United States is set to raise tariffs on dozens of trading partners Friday if they fail to reach accords with President Donald Trump to avert the higher rates, and this risks raising prices for consumers.

The 15% tariff would be lower than previously threatened, but it would remain a high duty on America’s largest trading partner.

Balancing economic interests and security concerns, European officials said they got the best deal possible with Trump, but critics said Brussels ceded to pressure.

Trump has justified his most far-reaching assertions of tariff power by citing the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows tariffs on all imports during an "unusual and extraordinary threat ... to the national security, foreign policy or economy of the United States."

Canadian aluminium smelters have started diverting primary metal away from the United States in response to the ratcheting up of import tariffs, first to 25% in March and then to 50% in June.

As President Donald Trump prepares to announce new tariff increases, the costs of his policies are starting to come into focus for a domestic manufacturing sector that depends on global supply chains,