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Trump labels the EU 'difficult to deal with'

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Dollar down, heads for weekly loss

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Gold, yen and government bonds gain on haven demand

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Apple ( AAPL ) shares knocked by direct new tariff threat

(Updates to US afternoon)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK May 23 (Reuters) - Major stock indexes and the

dollar eased on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump

unleashed his latest trade threats, recommending 50% tariffs on

European Union imports from June 1 and considering a 25% tariff

on any Apple ( AAPL ) iPhones made outside the U.S.

Shares of Apple ( AAPL ) fell 3% in late afternoon New York

trading, while the three major U.S. stocks indexes were weaker

but well off session lows. European shares ended lower.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies, fell 0.83% to 99.08, with the

euro up 0.74% at $1.1364 and the dollar down 1.07%

against the Japanese yen. For the week, the dollar is

down 1.5%, on track for its biggest weekly percentage decline

since mid-April.

Government bonds in the United States and Europe climbed on

safe-haven buying after sustaining heavy pressure this week from

rising concerns about Trump's tax cuts and the White House's

ballooning debt pile.

Trump said in a post on his Truth Social network: "The

European Union, which was formed for the primary purpose of

taking advantage of the United States on TRADE, has been very

difficult to deal with."

This was the latest event in a jittery week for global

markets after Moody's downgraded the U.S. credit rating late

last Friday and the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly

approved Trump's sweeping tax cuts on Thursday.

"Tariffs are back at the forefront," said Oliver Pursche,

senior vice president and advisor for Wealthspire Advisors in

Westport, Connecticut.

"I think the 25% tariffs on iPhones and Apple ( AAPL ) was a little

bit of a surprise. It seemed like there was going to be an

exemption there, and the market is reacting more to that than

the EU news, and is interpreting that as a hardening of the

stance by President Trump and the administration as opposed to

seeking a negotiating path."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 147.48 points,

or 0.35%, to 41,711.61. The S&P 500 dropped 26.30 points,

or 0.45%, to 5,815.71 and the Nasdaq Composite slid

147.13 points, or 0.78%, to 18,778.60.

All three major U.S. stock indexes were down more than

1% early in the day.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

dropped 1.08 points, or 0.12%, to 869.93. The pan-European STOXX

600 index fell 0.93%.

The

White House paused

most of the punishing tariffs Trump announced in early

April against nearly every country. He left in place a 10%

baseline tax on most imports, and later reduced his massive 145%

tax on Chinese goods to 30%.

"Markets go through a cycle with tariffs - freak out and

sell when they are announced ..., freak out and buy (when) they

are paused," said Jamie Cox, managing partner at Harris

Financial Group in Richmond, Virginia.

The new tax-cut bill is expected to add almost $4

trillion to the U.S. federal government's $36 trillion debt

pile.

The 30-year Treasury yield, which had hit

19-month highs early on Thursday, fell in response to fresh

tariff fears.

The benchmark U.S. 10-year note yield fell 4.4

basis points to 4.509%, from 4.553% late on Thursday. The

30-year bond yield fell 3.3 basis points to 5.0311%.

Gold, which has surged in recent months as economic anxiety

has risen, was higher. Spot gold rose 2.14% to $3,364.74

an ounce.