EU VOWS RETALIATION ON PROPOSED U.S. CAR TARIFFS
Leaders also repeat criticism of US duties on foreign metals, saying it ‘cannot be justified on grounds of national security’
EUROPEAN Union leaders vowed an unwavering response to United States President Donald Trump’s protectionism, signalling a readiness to retaliate should the US escalate trade tension with tariffs on cars.
The EU government heads repeated criticism of US duties on foreign metals and expressed support for the bloc’s retaliatory action over those levies, which Trump has justified on nationalsecurity grounds.
The EU reacted last week by imposing tit-for-tat tariffs on €2.8 billion (RM13.16 billion) of imports of US goods ranging from motorcycles to orange juice.
The US duties of 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium “cannot be justified on the grounds of national security”, said the 28 leaders in a statement. “The EU must respond to all actions of a clear protectionist nature.”
The global commercial order is being shaken by the Trump administration’s use of an obscure US trade-law provision on national security to justify the metal tariffs against a host of countries, including defence allies.
The EU has also complained to the World Trade Organisation, calling the duties pure protectionism masquerading as national-security policy.
Trump is threatening to deploy the same argument to impose US tariffs on cars and car parts within months, a step that would hit the EU in general and Germany in particular much harder than have the metal levies.
The value of EU automotive exports to the US is about 10 times greater than that of the bloc’s steel and aluminium exports combined.
That means any European retaliation over car tariffs introduced by Trump would likely target a bigger sum of American goods exported to Europe than the amount hit by last week’s European measures.