It may look like the European Union is getting off relatively lightly from the new U.S. tariffs, at least compared with Asian countries such as China. Unfortunately, the new taxes on Asian goods will also hurt European countries.

The tariffs announced by U.S. President Donald Trump will put a strain on the United States' exports as well, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday. At a press conference in Berlin, Scholz also pointed to complex supply chains: "Sometimes there are so many supply chain dependencies that some things are sent back and forth a 100 times.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says the tariffs are an “attack” on a trading system that brought global prosperity and that America itself helped design.