EU Warns of Response if U.S. Violates Deal After Trump Signals Tariff Hike

[Financial News]  

The European Union (EU) warned on the 1st local time that it could retaliate against President Donald John Trump's pressure over auto tariffs.
Earlier in the day, Trump said the EU was not complying with the trade agreement and announced that he would raise tariffs on passenger cars and pickup trucks exported from the EU to 25% starting next week.
According to Reuters and Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa), the European Commission (EC) pushed back, saying the EU is complying with the trade agreement and warning that it could respond if the United States raises tariffs.
A Commission spokesperson said the EC would keep options open to protect the EU's interests if the United States takes steps that run counter to the joint statement on the trade deal. The spokesperson also stressed that the EU is implementing its commitments under the joint statement in line with standard legislative procedures.
However, the EU also gave Trump grounds for complaint.
There was backlash over Trump's demand to annex Greenland, but the pace of implementing the agreement within the EU has slowed.
Still, the European Parliament (EP) has also prepared a mechanism that could be used to retaliate against the United States. While approving the trade agreement in March after it had been blocked twice, lawmakers added an amendment allowing the EP to protect European interests if the United States fails to carry out the deal.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, strongly criticized Trump's tariff hike in a post on social media platform X, saying it was unacceptable.
He said the European Parliament still respects the trade agreement reached with the United States in Scotland and is finishing its legislative work, arguing that it is the United States, not the EU, that is breaking its promise.
In July last year, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, met Trump in Scotland and finalized the trade agreement. In exchange for lowering U.S. tariffs on most EU products, including automobiles, to 15%, the EU agreed to eliminate tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and improve market access for agricultural products.

[email protected] Song Kyung-jae Reporter