In July 2026, social media posts claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump placed a 2,000% tariff on Belgian chocolate. The claim circulated online following Belgium's victory over the U.S. men's national team in the FIFA World Cup on July 6.
For example, a Facebook user claimed on July 7 (archived), "Donald Trump places 2000% tariff on Belgian chocolates."
The rumor also
(Facebook user @NewsThump.)
To investigate the rumor's legitimacy, we first searched for the keywords "Trump Belgian chocolate tariffs" using DuckDuckGo, Yahoo and Bing. If Trump had really placed such a tariff on Belgian chocolate, journalists with reputable news outlets, such as The Associated Press or Reuters, would have widely reported on it, and those search inquiries would have uncovered such evidence. That was not the case.
We did not find any credible reporting about a tariff on Belgian chocolate specifically following the World Cup game with Belgium. Some results did point to a 2025 executive order that placed a general tariff on imports from European Union countries, including Belgium.
We identified the rumor's source: NewsThump, a social media account that describes its content as satirical. The account's bio (archived) reads:
NewsThump - Satire (not news, obviously, but we have to put this here because of the idiots)
NewsThump first shared the rumor on July 7 (archived) without a visible satire label. The post linked to a story behind a paywall, indicating the account likely produces its satirical content for profit.
Two popular Instagram posts sharing the claim were also labeled satire, as noted at the end of one post's caption and in another account's bio. The two accounts did not appear related to NewsThump.
We reached out to NewsThump for its response to the fact that the post didn't feature any visible satire label, leading some people to mistake the satirical story as real news. We will update this story if we receive a response.
The NewsThump page contained other fictitious stories based on real events or people. For example, it shared a fabricated story claiming Trump reignited the United States' war on Iran after resting a hamburger on a "red button."
The feature image for the story promoting the false tariff rumor also displayed signs of artificial intelligence. The subjects in the framed images behind Trump appear warped and certain details are inconsistent with reality. For example, the statue behind the Oval Office desk features a replica of the Marine Corps War Memorial in July 2026, where soldiers raise a flag, not a gun.
(whitehouse.gov)
Snopes has debunked similar pieces of media before. For example, in November 2025, we alerted readers to a fake story from NewsThump about White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt allegedly saying emails regarding deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were about a "different Donald Trump."
For background, here is why we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.