US President Donald Trump has announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on European Union imports, claiming the bloc was “formed in order to screw the United States”.
Gatekeepers News reports that Trump made the remarks during his first cabinet meeting at the White House since his inauguration in January. He stated that the EU has “taken advantage of” the US, citing a $300 billion trade deficit.
“We have made a decision, we’ll be announcing it very soon and it will be 25% generally speaking and that will be on cars and all other things.
“The European Union is a different case than Canada, a different kind of case, they’ve really taken advantage of us in a different way.
“They don’t accept our cars, they don’t accept essentially our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not, and we accept everything from them, and we have about a $300bn (£237bn) deficit with the European Union.”
He added: “The European Union, it was formed in order to screw the United States.
“Let’s be honest – the European Union was formed in order to screw the United States, that’s the purpose of it, and they’ve done a good job of it, but now I’m president.”
Asked what he will do if the EU retaliates, Trump said: “They can’t, I mean, they can try, but they can’t.”
He added: “They can retaliate, but it cannot be a successful retaliation, because we just go cold turkey, we don’t buy anymore.
“If that happens, we win.”
A European Commission spokesperson said in response to Mr Trump’s comments: “The EU will react firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade, including when tariffs are used to challenge legal and non-discriminatory policies.
“The European Union is the world’s largest free market. And it has been a boon for the United States.”
