EU vows to retaliate on auto tariffs
BRUSSELS — The European Union vowed prompt retaliation if the U.S. follows through on a threat to impose tariffs on imported vehicles, as trans-Atlantic trade tensions showed no signs of easing.
If European exports are hit by U.S. actions, the EU will “react in a swift and adequate manner,” Margaritis Schinas, a spokesman for the European Commission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday — a day after President Donald Trump received a report on the national-security implications posed by auto imports.
The EU has prepared tariffs on a total of 20 billion euros ($23 billion) in U.S. goods should Mr. Trump follow through on his threat, which would chiefly hit Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel gave an impassioned defense of the country’s car industry to an audience of senior security officials in Munich over the weekend, calling the Trump administration’s suggestion that European autos are a threat to U.S. security a “shock.”
The car dispute follows American tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports, brought using the same nationalsecurity justification. The bloc retaliated imposing duties on 2.8 billion euros ($3.17 billion) of U.S. imports, ranging from Harley-Davidson Inc. motorcycles to Levi Strauss & Co. jeans.
Diplomat exchange?
WASHINGTON — The U.S. and North Korea are seriously considering exchanging liaison officers, an incremental step toward building formal diplomatic relations, two sources with knowledge of the discussions told CNN.
News of the discussions comes days ahead of President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s second summit, which is set to take place in Vietnam at the end of the month.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim met in Singapore last year, and both leaders there signed a joint statement that included commitments from each country “to establish new US-DPRK relations in accordance with the desire of the peoples of the two countries for peace and prosperity.”
The two high-level diplomatic sources said the first step forward could be the exchange of officers. On the U.S. side, sources said there would be several liasion officers sent to set up office in North Korea, led by a senior foreign service officer who speaks Korean, if this plan were to move forward.
Honda to shut UK plant
LONDON — Honda will close a car factory in western England with the potential loss of 3,500 jobs, British media and a local lawmaker said Monday, in another blow to a British economy made jittery by Brexit.
Sky News said the Japanese carmaker is to announce Tuesday that the Swindon plant will close in 2022. Honda makes its popular Civic model at the factory, 70 miles west of London.
The news comes as British businesses are issuing increasingly urgent warnings about the damage being done by the uncertainty around Britain’s looming exit from the European Union. The U.K. is set to leave the bloc March 29, but has yet to seal a deal laying out the divorce terms and establishing what trade rules will apply after Brexit.