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Posted on 03/03/2018 8:13:11 PM PST by Ennis85
President Trump warned on Saturday that he would apply higher taxes on imported European cars if the European Union carried through on its threat to retaliate against his proposed stiff new tariffs on steel and aluminum.
“If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S.,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter from Florida, where he was spending part of the weekend. “They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!”
It was the latest indication that Mr. Trump, despite pressure from foreign allies and American business leaders, is standing by his decision to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports from all countries. The action is likely to be signed this coming week.
After Mr. Trump announced the penalties on Thursday, European Union leaders warned that American goods like Kentucky bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, many of them with roots in the home states of key Republican leaders, would be treated “the same way” if the steel and aluminum tariffs were enforced. Officials from Australia, Canada and other American trade partners also made retaliatory threats.
Mr. Trump has long seized on what he perceives as the unfair barriers that American automakers face in exporting their cars, noting that many Mercedes-Benzes can be seen on the streets of New York but few Chevrolets on the streets of European cities.
The European Union levies a 10 percent duty on cars made in the United States, and the United States levies a 2.5 percent duty on cars produced in Europe. While the president threatened unilateral action, his ability to change the tariff, which was decided
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Good thing there isn’t a tariff on popcorn.
“In addition, among some Europeans, American cars are seen as less desirable than those from Europe or Japan”
Is this actually backed up by fact?
Fine by me. I have a German motorcycle. But I already own it,so generally I don’t care about Europe.
I saw Ford cars when I was in Paris, Marseilles and Normandie 2 years ago. The Euro cars all look the same. There’s a reason why foreigners are amazed at what they see in America, especially here in L.A where we have a lot of different cars on the road.
All those tariff-lovers out there, just see. If he does this just see if it helps America. It won’t.
This ias so great. We are now the screwor and these bastard counties killing our jobs are the screwee. Trump just won labor for the next election!! What a great man he is!! Thank you Donald!!
I’ve seen it first hand where
car nuts in Sweden save up big bucks
so they can import American made
cars. Though, this is just one country,
there may be more, like China and GM
or Ford.
Mustang is outselling Porsche in Germany.....
Collectively, more of U.S. than them. Small units that look out for themselves have zero leverage. United Europe, let’s see how that works out for them.
“There’s a reason why foreigners are amazed at what they see in America, especially here in L.A where we have a lot of different cars on the road.”
If you want to see car varieties, go to China.
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I’ve lived off and on for thirty years around Germany. I will vouch that most American cars are less desirable than those from Europe or Japan...chiefly for three reasons:
1. Poor quality. That period of the 70s and 80s where a fair number of US cas were made under the umbrella of poor quality still lingers.
2. Gas mileage. Because of gas taxes over the past fifty years, they’ve always been hyped up on cars with better mileage. Its only in the past decade that most of the US brands delivered better mileage.
3. The ‘look’ doesn’t generally interest people.
Over the past decade in Germany, the one vehicle which has caught on is Jeep. Over a normal day of driving around....I’ll see a minimum of three Jeeps. Oddly, the new Mustang has interested a number of folks (with deep pockets) and I’ve seen a couple of those. Pick-ups? A decade ago...they were awful rare, but in the last couple of years...with horse enthusiasts and farmers, they are catching on.
They could remove the tariff tomorrow, and I don’t think there would be any real rush to buy American vehicles.
Isn’t gas about $5-7/gallon over there?
excellent. keep fighting to get the walls up Mr. President. this one’s just as important to beat the “cheap labor express” as the one on the southern border.
Which are the basis of Mulally era (and onward) cars in the US. Business side is understandable but their cars are not worth it - given the prevalence of bland I4 cars from elsewhere.
When Ford stops fearing the affordable and turboless V6 & V8, they might have something.
1.35 Euro per liter for the bio-fuel mixture. Figure roughly $6 for the cheapest grade of gas. The gas companies openly tell you the precise amount of the gas tax at each pump...around 65-percent of the charge is a gov’t tax.
Diesel runs about 20-percent less than gas. Lesser taxation.
Yes, to a large degree - GM has struggled in Europe for decades and recently sold off much of their European operations to Peugeot. Chrysler’s never managed to make much headway even recently with Fiat at the helm. Ford is the only one of the big three American brands that’s done well there, but that’s because with the exception of the Mustang, all their offerings in Europe are locally designed or non-US designed specifically for Europe and most of them are built in Europe.
To be fair, most American market designs don’t work well in Europe from a packaging or size standpoint in the first place.
Actually, this is a more potent threat to Europe than you’d think. Right now the Euro car market is in the crapper and a lot of their makers are on life support, government subsidy or getting closer to the precipice. A tariff that reduces their US market sales would cause absolute chaos in the EU and especially the German auto manufacturing sector, which was already reeling after VW’s Dieselgate.
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