German automakers: Trade war must be avoided at all costs

An organization representing German automakers is warning against President Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on car imports.

“Punitive duties can’t be the answer,” said Bernhard Mattes, the president of Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA), Reuters reported Monday. “A trade war between the USA and Europe must be avoided at all costs. In such a trade war there are only losers on all sides.”

{mosads}The statement comes after Trump over the weekend threatened to tax car imports from Europe in response to the European Union drawing up a retaliation list against steel tariffs that the U.S. president has promised to impose.

“If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.” the president wrote on Twitter. “They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”

Trump on Thursday announced a plan to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports, a move that shook Washington, D.C., and the global markets. The tariffs would be imposed on all steel and aluminum entering the United States.