EU offers lower rates in US cars

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The EU will offer to reduce tariffs on US car imports. UU. As part of an agreement to avoid a commercial war with Donald Trump, according to a main legislator.

Bernd Lange, who runs the Commercial Committee of the European Parliament, told The Financial Times that the block was willing to reduce its 10 percent import tax closer to 2.5 percent charged by the United States.

“We can try to have an agreement before increasing costs and tariffs,” said Lange, who is familiar with discussions within the EU on how to reduce tensions with the White House.

The block would offer more liquefied natural gas and military equipment equipment in the United States, “also look for lower carrots for cars,” he added.

The EU hopes to avoid a harmful commercial war in finding ways to reduce its commercial surplus with the United States, which Trump has frequently cited as a reason for punitive measures. In Trump’s first term, Brussels lowered the tariffs of the block over the lobsters and offered to buy more LNG and soy, which limited a commercial dispute to steel and aluminum.

The EU automotive industry supports the movement, officials said in Brussels to FT. The sector fears that Trump does well in his threat of imposing tariffs after complaining that Europeans “do not buy our cars, do not take our agricultural products, take almost nothing and take everything away.”

Reduced automobile tariffs, a decision made by the European Commission as a representative of the block in commercial policy, would also apply to China and other countries under the WTO rules.

“We have linked tariffs for cars in the WTO to 10 percent, but let’s say, to show the world that we have fair relationships, it is possible to reduce them,” said Lange.

The EU officials are confident that China imports would not increase, since the block has already imposed tariffs of up to 35 percent in the country’s electric vehicles on the argument that Beijing is unjustly subsidized.

BMW’s executive president, Oliver Zipse, has requested lower tariffs on cars and Mercedes Chief, Ola Källenius, said he wants a “great treatment” with Trump.

EU officials said that the key countries that countries, including Germany, have been consulted and not expected that Berlin will oppose the measure.

In 2022, the EU exported 738,436 vehicles to the United States, valued at € 37.4 billion. It imported only 271,476 from the USA, worth € 8.7 billion.

Lange warned that if the conversations failed, the EU would respond with a new weapon, which allows him to attack US financial and technological companies. The anti-coercion instrument was created after Trump’s first mandate, to deal with countries using economic pressure to change internal policy.

“Sometimes it is important to have a gun on the table,” Lange said.

The FT reported this week that the European Commission was preparing to use the measure for the first time.

Lange said Trump would probably use tariffs to try to force the EU to loosen regulations and eliminate taxes on online companies such as goal, X and Google.

“Therefore, ACI comes into play so that we can also use this instrument to face these large technological companies.”

He said that Brussels could suspend intellectual property rights, for example, allow free use of software and apply tasks to transmission services and other digital platforms.

He said that the ACI would require about six months to deploy, since the EU would have to calculate the damage to their industries and obtain the support of the majority member states.

But he said that governments had noticed how rapid retaliation by Canada and Mexico to the 25 percent tariffs that had taken Trump to suspend them for 30 days.

“We are, of course, more powerful than Canada or Mexico. And therefore, I suppose we can defend our economic interests. “

The commission declined to comment.