ZCZC
BCN-29
US-EU-CHINA-WTO-TRADE
Trump says EU bid to end auto tariffs ‘not good enough’: report
WASHINGTON, Aug 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – President Donald Trump on Thursday
reportedly rejected as “not good enough” a European Union proposal scrapping
tariffs on automobiles, a move which threatens to amplify a simmering trans-
Atlantic trade dispute.
Just hours earlier, the EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem had said
the bloc was “willing to bring down… our car tariffs to zero” provided that
the United States did the same.
“It’s not good enough,” Trump told Bloomberg News in an Oval Office
interview, speaking of the Brussels offer.
“Their consumer habits are to buy their cars, not to buy our cars.”
The White House in July sought to defuse the trade tiff when Trump and
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met and pledged to work
towards a limited trade accord that would eliminate customs duties, but
excluded the automobile sector.
Trump on Thursday also compared the EU to China. He has reportedly
threatened to slap import taxes on $200 billion in Chinese goods, as a trade
war escalates with Beijing.
“The European Union is almost as bad as China, just smaller,” Trump said.
He also warned that he could pull the United States out of the World Trade
Organization.
“If they don’t shape up, I would withdraw from the WTO,” Trump said of one
of the key anchors of the post-World War II multilateral trading system that
the United States helped construct.
At a time when Trump’s protectionist policies have sparked a wave of trade
wars, the institution best placed to help settle trade differences is facing
a deepening crisis.
This week Washington blocked the reappointment of a WTO judge, increasing
the risk it could soon find itself unable to fulfil its key role in
arbitrating disputes.
BSS/AFP/HR/1015