Trump touts tariffs on $11B of EU products

President Trump in an early morning tweet on Tuesday touted his administration’s tariffs on $11 billion of European Union products in the wake of a World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling.

“The World Trade Organization finds that the European Union subsidies to Airbus has adversely impacted the United States, which will now put Tariffs on $11 Billion of EU products!” he said.

“The EU has taken advantage of the U.S. on trade for many years,” he added. “It will soon stop!”

The  administration late Monday released a list of about $11 billion worth of EU imports that will be affected by the tariffs as retaliation for EU subsidies to aircraft manufacturer Airbus deemed unfair by the WTO.

{mosads}U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released the list while calling for an end to EU subsidies that he said harmed U.S. interests.

“Our ultimate goal is to reach an agreement with the EU to end all WTO-inconsistent subsidies to large civil aircraft. When the EU ends these harmful subsidies, the additional U.S. duties imposed in response can be lifted,” Lighthizer said in a statement.

Airbus representatives called the Trump administration’s tariff moves “totally unjustified” in a statement to The Wall Street Journal, adding that the company had made changes to satisfy WTO regulators.

“This would lead to unnecessary trade tensions and that shows the only reasonable solution is a negotiated settlement,” Airbus representatives told the newspaper.

Airbus competitor Boeing, meanwhile, praised the move and called for the EU to comply with the WTO’s ruling.

“Boeing supports the U.S. Trade Representative and his team in their ongoing efforts to level the playing field in the global aircraft marketplace,” the company said, according to the Journal. “Hopefully, the draft tariff list will compel the EU to comply with past WTO rulings against it.”

Updated at 8:05 a.m.