Thread: Trump steps up war of words on trade with threat to tax EU cars

Trump steps up war of words on trade with threat to tax EU cars

2 hours ago

US President Donald Trump has stepped up his war of words over trade tariffs, threatening to "apply a tax" on imports of cars from the European Union.

Mr Trump said other countries had taken advantage of the US for years because of its "very stupid" trade deals.

The trade wrangle began on Thursday when Mr Trump vowed to impose hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

That brought a stiff response from trading partners and criticism from the IMF and WTO.

EU trade chiefs have reportedly been considering slapping 25% tariffs on around $3.5bn (£2.5bn) of imports from the US, following Mr Trump's proposal of a 25% tariff on imported steel and 10% on aluminium.

They would target iconic US exports including Levi's jeans, Harley-Davidson motorbikes and Bourbon whisky, European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said.

What has Mr Trump said now?

In a tweet on Saturday, the president said: "If the EU wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on US companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the US.

"They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!"

A second tweet decried the "$800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our 'very stupid' trade deals and policies".

Mr Trump added: "Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years. They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!"
How many EU-made cars go to the US?

The US is the largest export market for EU cars - making up 25% of the €192bn (£171bn; $237bn) worth of motor vehicles the bloc exported in 2016 (China was second with 16%).

Germany is responsible for just over half of the EU's car exports, so new US tariffs would hurt the car industry there. But German carmakers also build hundreds of thousands of cars in the US every year - providing many US jobs that German officials say Mr Trump overlooks.

Do fellow Republicans back Mr Trump's trade threats?

A number have questioned the wisdom of the tariff proposal and have been urging the president to reconsider.

Senator Orrin Hatch said: "I'm very surprised, he's had very bad advice from somebody down there. The people who are going to have to pay these tariffs are going to be the American citizens."

Senator Ben Sasse said: "Kooky 18th Century protectionism will jack up prices on American families - and will prompt retaliation."

And industry bodies like the US Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association have expressed deep concern, saying the benefits from the recent cuts in corporation tax "could all be for naught".

But Mr Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross stood firmly behind the plans, saying the president was "fed up with the continued over-capacity, he's fed up with the subsidisation of exports to us".

Why does he want to impose tariffs?

It chimes with his "America First" policy and the narrative that the US is getting a raw deal in its trade relations with other countries.

Mr Trump tweeted on Friday that the US was "losing billions of dollars" and would find a trade war "easy to win".

The president is using a clause in international trade rules which allows for tariffs for national security reasons.

But his move has not come totally out of the blue.

The commerce department recommended tariffs in February after conducting a review under rarely invoked national security regulations contained in a 1962 trade law.

Mr Trump had already announced tariffs on solar panels and washing machines in January.
What has the international response been?

The IMF said others could follow the US leader's precedent by claiming tough trade restrictions were needed to defend national security.

Canada said tariffs would cause disruption on both sides of the border. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed the tariffs as "absolutely unacceptable".

He told reporters in Ontario he was "confident we're going to continue to be able to defend Canadian industry".

It is one of several countries, including Brazil, Mexico and Japan, that have said they will consider retaliatory steps if the president presses ahead with his plan next week.

World Trade Organization Director General Roberto Azevedo said: "A trade war is in no-one's interests."

But Mr Trump tweeted, "Trade wars are good."

If trade wars really were good and easy to win, the World Trade Organization probably wouldn't exist.

Most countries believe that negotiations are best carried out and disputes settled through a rules-based system. Introducing trade barriers on a tit-for-tat basis has the potential to harm companies on both sides.

But that's unlikely to bother Mr Trump. His campaign rhetoric drew heavily on the perceived threat to traditional US industries from foreign interlopers acting unfairly. He's simply continuing in that vein.

And it's unlikely to register much with the steelworkers of Pennsylvania and Indiana. Concerned about their jobs and the future, many will welcome Mr Trump's comments.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43270388

Trump is doing his job, these globalists in other countries can whine and shake their rattlers all they want. We're Americans and we decide what we want to do around here. We want jobs, we want a legal population, border security, immigration reductions, reduced taxes, less debt, more trade surpluses, less welfare. It's not complicated what we want for a more perfect "union" of our own.

Trump is ready to fight a trade war with Europe, takes aim at car imports

by Jackie Wattles
March 3, 2018: 3:18 PM ET

President Donald Trump escalated threats of a trade war on Saturday, saying he would slap a new tax on European cars if the EU retaliated against his proposed steel and aluminum tariffs.

Trump on Thursday called for tariffs of 25% on steel imports and 10% on aluminum products, a move he said would bolster those industries domestically.

The announcement was met with strong criticism by international trading partners who said Trump's plan could spark a trade war. European Union officials said they would retaliate with new tariffs on U.S. goods, including Harley-Davidson motorbikes, bourbon whiskey and Levi's jeans.

Trump fired back in a tweet Saturday.

"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.," he wrote. "They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there."

The U.S. imported more than 1.2 million European cars from brands like BMW and Volkswagen in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Trump's surprise vow to impose a new steel tariff rocked global markets. Economists have warned the tariffs could put U.S. jobs and industries at risk.

Trump stoked further fears of international turmoil on Friday by claiming "trade wars are good" and "easy to win."

Supporting Trump's move, however, was his commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross. Ross claimed in an interview with CNN that concerns about the tariff's affect on the U.S. economy are "rubbish." He added that if price hikes trickle down to American consumers, they would not be significant.

Trump also fired off a tweet Saturday saying "very stupid" trade deals are holding America back.

"The United States has an $800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our 'very stupid' trade deals and policies," he said. "Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years. They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!"

-- CNN's Stephen Collinson contributed to this report.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/03/news...ope/index.html

YES. Tax the whole fvcking car. GO TRUMP GO!! They want to run their mouths about our efforts to stop illegal immigration and reduce legal immigration, they want to attack the American People because we want to vet all immigrants including Muslims, especially from high-terrorist risk countries, they want to whine about our pulling out of TPP and the Paris Accord .... well, this administration isn't about talk, it's about action. So take that counter-punch in the gut, slink back to your Globalist "People" Caves and suck on that for awhile.

This is the United States,
And we are the Americans.

We not only decide what happens here,
We control what happens here. -- Judy

Finally, we have someone in the White House who thinks like US, talks like US, and acts like US. So, get used to it, EU. He's going to be there a long time.

Originally Posted by Judy

US President Donald Trump has stepped up his war of words over trade tariffs, threatening to "apply a tax" on imports of cars from the European Union.

Didn't I say this in another post, before Trump tweeted this? Yes, yes I did. I know, I am always right. Thank you. And this is what I said in that other post:

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

And this is coming from a Canadian newspaper. I told you guys that no one would be stupid enough to retaliate on the tariffs Trump put on foreign steel and aluminum.

And the European Union, which Germany is the head of, is stupid enough to stop buying Harleys, they know we would retaliate by stopping to buy German cars. We buy WAY MORE cars from Europe than they buy Harleys (and cars) from us. If they put a ban on Harleys and we put a ban on European cars as retaliation, that would make demand for American cars here in the U.S. skyrocket, which would create even more jobs for us. And Europe's auto industry would take a tremendous hit. Don't let these scaremonger traitors who want to line their pockets with more money, at the expense of the American worker fool you.

We've been being used by the rest of the world far too long. We need to start looking out for ourselves and not others. Besides, the rest of the world counts on us, the most powerful country in the world, to protect them from other countries who wish to hurt them. They are not stupid enough to cut ties with us. They would be cutting their own throats.

That other post was here: https://www.alipac.us/f19/spineless-...de-war-356418/

You know, I'm starting to think that Trump, and others, are coming here to ALIPAC and reading our posts, and getting extremely good ideas from my posts. I know, I'm awesome. What can I say?

Trump threatens to slap retaliatory tariff on European cars as trade war talk heats up

President Trump hit out at Europe, which has threatened retaliation for new U.S. steel export tariffs.

Trump said the U.S. may levy a 25 percent tax on cars exported from the European Union, which could impact popular brands sold stateside.

Javier E. David
Published 8 Hours Ago
Updated 4 Hours Ago CNBC.com

President Donald Trump threatened to hit car exports from the European Union with a retaliatory tax, escalating a brewing global fight with U.S. trading partners triggered by newly announced 25 percent U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

In a post on Twitter, Trump cited a "big imbalance" between the two countries, said if the 28-nation bloc insisted on imposing punitive taxes on U.S. goods, America would strike back on European car exports. It was an apparent response to European officials threatening policy changes of their own in the wake of Trump's sudden pronouncement on metal imports.

"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.," the president said on Twitter.

That could spell trouble for car manufacturers like Volkswagen and BMW, two of the most popular European brands sold in the U.S. The German luxury car maker also manufactures many of its cars in America, shipping billions of dollars worth abroad.

In 2016, the EU shipped more than 6 million cars abroad, and the U.S. — its largest market by far — absorbed more than 1 million of those, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Each year, the U.S. imports more from Europe than the continent absorbs in American goods, to the tune of a trade deficit worth more than $11 billion in 2017, according to U.S. Census data.

Trump's hasty decision to impose tariffs on steel imports has stoked talk of a brewing trade war, roiling both the political establishment and the global economic order. The move also prompted E.U. trade chiefs to weigh hitting a broad array of U.S. imports with a 25 percent tax, Reuters reported this week.

The president's full-throated backing of tariffs is in keeping with a campaign pledge to protect American workers from the vagaries of global trade. On Saturday, Trump renewed his criticism of U.S. trade policy, insisting that world leaders have "taken advantage of" the world's largest economy for years.

"The United States has an $800 Billion Dollar Yearly Trade Deficit because of our "very stupid" trade deals and policies," Trump tweeted.

"Our jobs and wealth are being given to other countries that have taken advantage of us for years," he said. "They laugh at what fools our leaders have been. No more!"

Trump's enthusiastic embrace of populist economic policy has set parts of his base against one another. Larry Kudlow, a former Reagan official and prominent Republican economist who is a regular CNBC contributor, blasted the tariff decision in an opinion piece published on Saturday.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, White House economic advisor Gary Cohn has privately told confidantes that Trump's move against steel imports could prompt his resignation. The president's decision reportedly touched off an internecine battle among his aides, with Cohn's camp ending up on the losing end.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/03/trum...-heats-up.html

Originally Posted by 6 Million Dollar Man

Didn't I say this in another post, before Trump tweeted this? Yes, yes I did. I know, I am always right. Thank you. And this is what I said in that other post:



That other post was here: https://www.alipac.us/f19/spineless-...de-war-356418/

You know, I'm starting to think that Trump, and others, are coming here to ALIPAC and reading our posts, and getting extremely good ideas from my posts. I know, I'm awesome. What can I say?

They've been doing that since the campaign. It's Steve Miller who reads our posts and gets the information to Trump. I wrote a post with the line "the false song of globalism", during the campaign here on ALIPAC. Four or five days later it was in a Miller speech at a rally, then sundance of gateway pundit, made it into a nice graphic and sent it out all over the internet.

I also used the word "scourge" to describe illegal immigration, "the scourge of illegal immigration", now everyone calls it a "scourge". And there have been others, too.

So, yeah, be aware that they'll read our posts as long as they're worthy of reading.

Originally Posted by Judy

They've been doing that since the campaign. It's Steve Miller who reads our posts and gets the information to Trump. I wrote a post with the line "the false song of globalism", during the campaign here on ALIPAC. Four or five days later it was in a Miller speech at a rally, then sundance of gateway pundit, made it into a nice graphic and sent it out all over the internet.

I also used the word "scourge" to describe illegal immigration, "the scourge of illegal immigration", now everyone calls it a "scourge". And there have been others, too.

So, yeah, be aware that they'll read our posts as long as they're worthy of reading.

I didn't know that Judy. That's totally awesome. I love it!

Yes, when you look at the forum viewing numbers and only see 9 or 10 of us members logged in, the other hundreds and sometimes thousands are politicians, government officials, newspapers, writers, authors, researchers, opponents, not-for-profits, amnesty groups, and so forth.