US President Donald Trump will increase import duties on cars and trucks from the European Union to 25 percent next week. That wrote he said on Friday in a message on his own platform Truth Social. The American president claims that European countries are not adhering to the agreements made in August. The new duties do not apply to vehicles from European brands that are produced in the US, Trump writes.
Under Trump, the United States already imposed an overall import tax of 25 percent on cars from outside the US last year. In August, the US and the European Union reached an agreement under which the US would reduce that tax again to 15 percent.
In return, the EU would completely eliminate its tariffs on American industrial products, including cars. The EU and the US also agreed to recognize each other’s rules for motor vehicle safety and emissions. That’s a big step, because the rules for cars in the EU and US differ widely – rules for CO2emissions are stricter in Europe.
‘Unacceptable’
Negotiations were still ongoing in Brussels on the final texts of the trade agreement, reports the Reuters news agency. According to the news agency, these negotiations would last until at least next month.
Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee on behalf of the German SPD, calls Trump’s comments to Reuters “unacceptable.” According to him, the EU is indeed adhering to the agreement, and it is precisely the US that is violating these agreements. “For example, by applying an average tariff of 26 percent to more than four hundred products containing steel and aluminum.”
With his new tariffs, Trump “shows once again how unreliable the American side is,” Lange adds. He points out that Europe has previously faced “indiscriminate attacks” from Washington, when Trump threatened to take Greenland. “This is no way to deal with your partners. The EU can only respond now with the utmost clarity and determination.”
