Trump threatens EU as global trade war looms
President hints at ‘tax on cars’ after pushback on steel tariff idea
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to hammer European automotive companies with steep tariffs as his global trade war snowballed into a third day.
Trump, in a series of Twitter posts while at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, appeared to be responding to warnings from European leaders that his promised tariffs on aluminum and steel would trigger retaliation from numerous major U.S. trading partners, including Canada.
Bring it on, Trump wrote. “If the EU wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!” he tweeted Saturday.
The U.S. imposes a 2.5-per-cent tariff on the import of foreign cars and a 25-per-cent tariff on the import of foreign trucks and commercial vans. The EU charges a 10-per-cent tariff on car imports.
On Thursday, Trump shocked the world — and many of his top advisers — with an off-the-cuff announcement that the U.S. would impose a tariff of 25 per cent on steel imports and 10 per cent on aluminum imports. Canada’s leadership said they would retaliate with tariffs on U.S. exports. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said his bloc planned to hit back by imposing tariffs on targeting Kentucky bourbon, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Levi’s blue jeans.
The tariffs on aluminum and steel and large tariffs on European automakers would have the biggest impact on Canada, Britain, Germany, South Korea, Turkey, and Japan, countries withb which the U.S. has close national security ties.
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the tariff proposal “absolutely unacceptable,” using the same phrase as Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, who also threatened retaliatory measures if Canada isn’t exempted from the trade actions.