Business

EU prepping response to possible Trump auto tariffs: official

by Niv Elis - 05/13/19 1:55 PM ET

European Union trade chief Cecilia Malmstrom says Brussels is finalizing a list of U.S. goods to target should President Trump put in place new tariffs on vehicles by the May 18 deadline.

“We are already preparing a list of possible items that would be on that list,” Malmstrom said in a Monday interview with Bloomberg Television.

“The moment this is official — if this happens, I still hope it won’t — then we would publish that list,” she added.

A trade war between the U.S. and EU last year flared up after President Trump imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on Europe and a variety of other close trade partners. The EU retaliated, targeting products in politically sensitive states, such as Harley Davidson motorcycles in Wisconsin and bourbon in Kentucky.

The sides agreed to hold their fire last summer and work toward an agreement, but the Trump administration has paved the way to new auto tariffs on the EU and other trade partners, which could reignite the trade war.

The Europen response would target 20 billion euros, about $22.5 billion, worth of U.S. goods, according to Bloomberg.

The standoff comes amid another escalating trade war with China. On Friday, Trump increased tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports amid troubled trade talks with China. China responded Monday with a threat to increase tariffs on $60 billion of American exports, sending markets tumbling.

By early afternoon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had plummeted 700 points, or 2.7 percent.

Tags Donald Trump European Union Tariffs