August 6, 2019—President Donald Trump renewed his threat to impose tariffs on European automobiles if he does not see progress in negotiations with the U.S. and Europe, according to a report by Euronews.
The President recently signed a deal to sell more U.S. beef to the European Union. At the signing, he said that he was working “on a 25 percent tariff on all Mercedes-Benz and BMWs coming into our nation,” then saying he was only kidding. President Trump said the threat of auto tariffs may have helped move Europe toward accepting the beef deal, but the tariffs still remain an option.
“Auto tariffs are never off the table,” Trump said. “If I don’t get what I want, I’ll have no choice but maybe to do that. But so far they’ve been very good.”
European Officials have said they are looking forward to working on reforming the World Trade Organization (WTO) with the U.S., but they would retaliate if the Trump Administration tried to raise car tariffs.