President Trump warned the EU and Canada on Thursday not to collude in their response to his heavy trade tactics, saying they will face even higher tariffs.
Mr. Trump, writing on Truth Social, threatened nations that, historically, have been considered friendly to the U.S. but have attracted the president’s ire. He says they’ve ripped off the U.S. for years through trade barriers, and he wants to rebalance the scales.
“If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!” Mr. Trump said.
Mr. Trump announced a 25% tariff on autos not made in the U.S.
The levies, which go into effect April 2, have sweeping ramifications for German automakers and the highly interconnected North American auto industry, in which parts are sent across borders multiple times.
Tariffs are a tax or duty paid by importers on the goods they bring in from foreign markets.
SEE ALSO: Trump imposes 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars
Mr. Trump says tariffs are a great way to force companies to return to America or keep their operations in the U.S., employ American workers and create revenue to fund domestic programs.
Mr. Trump said automakers will have no trouble if they make their cars in the U.S.
Yet the planned levies are rattling Wall Street. Investors and business leaders fear new costs in the supply chain and higher prices for consumers. Tariffs could also stir an all-out trade war with defiant allies.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, writing on X, said: “President Trump’s tariffs will hurt, but they will not break us.”
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said tariffs are “bad for businesses, worse for consumers equally in the US and the European Union.”
“We will now assess this announcement, together with other measures the US is envisaging in the next days,” she said. “The EU will continue to seek negotiated solutions, while safeguarding its economic interests.”
The German Association of the Auto Industry, known by its German initials VDA, said the tariffs would send “a disastrous signal for free, rules-based trade.”
The tariffs will “place a significant burden on both companies and the automotive industry’s closely interwoven global supply chains — with negative consequences especially for consumers, also including those in North America,” VDA President Hildegard Müller said.
Ms. Müller called for immediate negotiations between the EU and the U.S. on a bilateral agreement.
“This would provide a forum for discussing the various tariff and non-tariff barriers to automotive products and could lead to a more balanced approach,” she said.
Mr. Trump announced the auto tariffs ahead of a more sweeping tariff announcement on April 2, which he’s dubbed “liberation day.”
The president plans to assign a tariff number to each country that imposes tariffs or trade barriers on U.S. goods, though Mr. Trump said he might be “lenient” and not match those countries’ measures dollar-for-dollar.
