Trump ramps up trade war threat with Europe as he vows to tax cars ‘which freely pour into the US’ after EU proposed stiffer tariffs on Harleys, bourbon and jeans
Donald Trump has ramped up the war of words with Europe over trade by threatening to impose punitive taxes on cars from the EU.
The US president vowed to retaliate against the EU after the bloc suggested it would hike tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorbikes, bourbon and American blue jeans.
The intervention will raise fresh fears about a major international spat over trade, as Mr Trump follows through on his pledge to stop America being exploited by other countries.
In a series of tweets yesterday, Mr Trump upped the ante by warning that the EU was taking the US ‘for fools’.
‘If the EU wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on US companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the US,’ he said.
‘They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!’ he continued.
Last year, the US ran a $151billion trade deficit with the EU, accounting for about one-fifth of America’s $796billion global trade deficit.