President Donald Trump threatened the E.U. with retaliatory tariffs on their auto industry if barriers are not removed in a Friday morning tweet.
Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S. Build them here!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
Trump’s tweet immediately sparked drops in the stocks of European car makers. The president has ordered his administration to undertake a national security review and consider tariffs against the European Union for its own trade barriers.
BREAKING: BMW, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler, Mercedes owner Daimler all drop sharply after Trump threatens 20% tariff on EU cars https://t.co/nAadGteeEk pic.twitter.com/7O07fo0rWc
— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) June 22, 2018
“You look at the European Union — they put up barriers so that we can’t sell our Ford products in, and yet they sell Mercedes and BMW, and the cars come in by the millions, and we hardly tax them at all,” he said at a Wednesday campaign rally. “They don’t take our cars. And, if they do, the tax is massive.”