The U.S. President, Donald Trump on Wednesday renewed his threat to impose painful tariffs on EU-made cars “if there is no progress on a trade deal”.
Trump made the statement in an interview with Fox Business News on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos.
“The European Union is tougher to deal with than anybody.
“They’ve taken advantage of our country for many years.
“Ultimately, it will be very easy because if we can’t make a deal, we’ll have to put 25 per cent tariffs on their cars,’’ he said.
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Earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned that Washington would slap levies on EU auto imports if Europeans pressed ahead with a proposed digital tax that mainly targeted U.S. tech giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon.
“if people want to arbitrarily put taxes on our digital companies we will consider putting taxes arbitrarily on car companies,’’ Mnuchin said at the Davos forum.
The Trump administration has long accused the EU of unfair trade practices and has clashed with trans-Atlantic allies over state subsidies to manufacturers and taxes on U.S. tech companies.
Sputnik/NAN
