European Commission Weighs Response to Trump’s 25% Auto Tariff Threat

The European Commission said it will “keep our options open” as the EU weighs U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 25 percent tariff on automobiles and auto parts from Europe, raising the prospect of a transatlantic trade war.

Trump announced Friday night on Truth Social that he would increase the tariff on cars and trucks from the current 15 percent in response to the EU “not complying” with the trade deal reached by the two sides last summer at Trump's Turnberry golf course in Scotland.

In response, a spokesperson for the European Commission said the bloc was implementing the Turnberry deal “in line with standard legislative practice, keeping the U.S. administration fully informed throughout.”

The chair of the European Parliament's trade committee, meanwhile, called Trump's tariff threat “unacceptable” and accused the U.S. of “breaking its commitments.”

There have been simmering tensions between the two sides over the implementation of the Scotland deal. The U.S. has complained at how long the EU is taking to bring tariffs down, while Europe has bristled at how many of its goods are being hit with a 26 percent U.S. tariff on aluminum and steel.

EU governments are divided over whether to pursue additional safeguards, as demanded by the European Parliament, delaying an agreement on a way forward. A majority of countries have resisted a French-led push to revisit the deal.

Manfred Weber, chair of the center-right European People’s Party, the biggest political group in the European Parliament, told POLITICO that negotiations “must be concluded swiftly so that the agreement can finally enter into force.”

“Our businesses cannot afford any prolonged uncertainty,” Weber said, calling for a final vote on the deal in the Parliament as early as next month.

Trump’s vow to escalate the dispute is causing alarm among foreign automakers in the U.S. A tariff increase would “would threaten the progress that has already been made to open EU markets and grow the U.S. auto industry,” Jennifer Safavian, CEO of industry lobby Autos Drive America, according to AP.

France’s EU affairs minister told POLITICO on April 28 there was “no reason to unilaterally implement a deal if it is not respected by the other side.”