EU warns Trump auto tariffs will harm US ‘first and foremost’: report

The European Commission issued a stark warning to the U.S. regarding President Trump’s plan to slap tariffs on European cars, saying the move would harm the U.S. economy, according to Politico.

The commission said in the 11-page letter to the U.S. Commerce Department that Trump’s move “will be harmful first and foremost for the US economy,” the news outlet reported.

{mosads}The document, a response to a U.S. request for comment on the matter, reportedly cites a European Union (EU) internal analysis showing “that an additional import tariff of 25 percent, applied to automobiles and automotive parts, would in first instance have a negative impact on US [gross domestic product] in the order of 13-14 billion USD, and the current account balance of the US would be not affected positively.”

“EU companies based in the US export a significant part of their production, thus contributing substantially to improving the US trade balance, which is a priority of the administration,” the letter reads, according to Politico.

“Around 60 percent of automobiles produced in the US by companies with exclusive EU ownership are exported to third countries, including the EU. Measures harming these companies would be self-defeating and would weaken the US economy.”

The letter comes after Trump threatened last week to slap a 20 percent tariff on all European cars coming into the U.S. 

Trump slammed the EU’s trade policies in an interview on Sunday, saying the European body was almost as bad as China on trade. 

“The European Union is possibly as bad as China, just smaller. It’s terrible what they do to us,” he said. 

Trump will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker this month at the White House.