The United States is not going to announce tariffs on European vehicles next week, stated Jean-Claude Juncker, the outgoing president of the European Commission.
U.S. President Donald Trump has until November 13 to decide if he should apply new duties on European automakers. This after Trump argued in May that U.S. imports of European vehicles pose a national security threat to the U.S.
In an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Jean-Claude Juncker said Trump will not move ahead with the latest tariffs.
Juncker currently leads the EU’s executive arm.
“Trump will ruffle a little, but there will be no automobile tariffs” Juncker informed the German newspaper.
The trade relationship between the U.S. and the EU remains tense since Trump became President and ended negotiations for a trade deal with Europe which the earlier U.S. administration was keeping in practice. Other than that, last year, Trump announced steel and aluminium tariffs on Europe. The EU retaliated after some months with duties on 2.8 billion euros of U.S. goods.
More recently, the U.S. declared tariffs on $7.5 billion of European goods in October. This decision was associated with a dispute at the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning subsidies to airlines.
EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, had been in contact regarding transatlantic trade last month during a phone call – the first since the most recent round of U.S. tariffs on Europe, according to CNBC.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also informed the Financial Times previous month that new talks with Europe could be an alternative to imposing these new car duties in this month.
