President Donald Trump threatened to halt the sales of German cars in the U.S. during meetings with European Union leaders Thursday.
“The Germans are bad, very bad,” Trump allegedly said of Germany’s trade surplus, according to German magazine Der Spiegel. “See the millions of cars they are selling to the U.S. Terrible. We will stop this.”
Trump reportedly made it clear to EU Council President Donald Tusk that he aims to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with Germany, which was $64 billion in 2016.
Trump previously threatened to slap a 35 percent tax on German cars exported to the U.S.
“If you want to build cars in the world, then I wish you all the best. You can build cars for the United States, but for every car that comes to the USA, you will pay 35 percent tax,” Trump told tabloid Bild in a January interview. “I would tell BMW that if you are building a factory in Mexico and plan to sell cars to the USA, without a 35 percent tax, then you can forget that.”
Trump went on to slam European countries for their lack of defense spending during a NATO meeting later in the day. (RELATED: Trump Tells NATO Countries To Pay More [VIDEO])
“Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying,” Trump said. “They’re supposed to be paying for their defense. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States.”
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