"We have made the decision, and we will announce it shortly, it will be 25%", assured Donald Trump. The rate is the same that Canadian and Mexican products will be taxed from the beginning of April. At the first meeting of his cabinet on Wednesday, the US president repeated his grievances against the EU, saying that "They don't accept our cars. They don’t accept, essentially our farm products,” Trump said. “They’ve really taken advantage of us in a different way” than from Canada or Mexico.
Trump repeated his claims that the US trade deficit with Europe was "$300bn", a figure that the European Commission disputed, estimating it instead at €150bn ($157bn) on goods alone, but only €50bn once the US trade surplus in services is taken into account.
“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,” Trump said.
European countries might be tempted to retaliate. “They can do it and they can try but the numbers can never equal ours, because we can go off. We are the pot of gold, we are the one that everybody wants,” he said. “They can retaliate, but it cannot be a successful retaliation because we just go cold turkey. We just don’t buy anymore. And if that happens, we win.”
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“The European Union is the world’s largest free market. And it has been a boon for the United States,” a European Commission spokesman said in a statement. “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.”
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