La UE amenaza a Trump con represalias de hasta 300 mil millones si aplica aranceles punitivos al automóvil

FINANCIAL TIMES.- Donald Trump’s threat to hit car imports with punitive tariffs risks sparking global retaliation against as much as $300bn of US products, Brussels has warned.

The warning is the first time that the European Commission, in a written submission to the US Department of Commerce seen by the Financial Times, has set out a detailed response to Mr Trump’s threat to slam punitive tariffs on imported vehicles, with EU capitals increasingly convinced that the unpredictable US president will act soon.

Mr Trump on Sunday said that the EU was “as bad” as China when it came to the way European countries traded with the US. In an interview with Fox News he dismissed suggestions that his attacks on the EU were counterproductive and that he should instead strengthen relations with European countries to tackle the Chinese trade issue together.

“The European Union is possibly as bad as China, just smaller . . . It is terrible what they do to us,” Mr Trump said, citing “the car situation”.

Brussels said that an American investigation into whether foreign cars and parts posed a national security risk could plunge the global economy into a full-on trade war, harming employment in the US’s auto sector, which accounts for more than 4m jobs.

In a sign of the EU’s exasperation at Mr Trump’s confrontational trade policy, which has already stoked tensions over steel and aluminium, the document said the move “could result in yet another disregard of international law” by the US. It said imposing the car tariffs would not be accepted by the international community and would “damage further the reputation” of the US.

Mr Trump said in a tweet last month that European car manufacturers faced punitive duties if barriers to US exports were “not soon broken down”.

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