U.S.-Canada-EU trade tensions escalate amid looming tariffs
"If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had," commented U.S. President Donald Trump on the reactions of the European Union and Canada.
Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that on April 2nd, he will impose 25-percent tariffs on all cars and light trucks imported from abroad. The previous rate was 2.5 percent.
Trump threatens EU and Canada
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced on Wednesday that the EU will assess Donald Trump's decision to impose 25-percent tariffs on all cars imported from abroad. "As I have said before, tariffs are taxes – bad for businesses, worse for consumers," she assessed.
Canada also announced its response.
"We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country—and we will defend it together," emphasized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
"It will happen soon ... we have options. We can introduce retaliatory tariffs," said Carney. He did not provide details.
The President of the USA, Donald Trump, reacted to these announcements.
"If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large scale tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!" announced Donald Trump on the Truth Social platform.
The market is already responding
The decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to impose 25-percent tariffs on imported cars has led to drops in the stocks of Asian manufacturers.
According to CNBC, Japanese corporations Toyota and Honda lost 3.69 percent and 2.91 percent of their value, respectively. Nissan, which has two factories in Mexico, recorded a 2.92 percent drop, and Mazda Motor lost over 6 percent.
It is estimated that the new tariffs will generate over 100 billion dollars (143 billion Canadian dollars) in annual revenue for the USA.
