US President Donald Trump threatened to introduce high tariffs on imports of autos from the European Union if the latter doesn’t agree to sign a trade deal. While the president had previously made similar threats, he delayed imposing the tariffs.
Trump said
on Wednesday in an interview with CNBC on the sidelines of the World Economic
Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland:
“I met with the new
head of the European Commission (EC), who's terrific. And I had a great talk.
But I said, 'look, if we don't get something, I'm going to have to take action'
and the action will be very high tariffs on their cars and on other things that
come into our country.”
Mike Manley, who heads the European auto market lobby group
ACEA, said that the industry didn’t need uncertainty at the moment. He
expressed his hopes that a clash with the American president could be
prevented.
"An escalation of
the tariffs is not to the benefit of anyone,” Manley noted.
Trump told Fox Business News at Davos that the tariffs on European cars could reach 25%.
The US President stressed that the EU had to make a trade
deal because they have no choice.