After President Trump discussed the idea of a tariff on steel and aluminum coming into the US (remember, this was only a discussion item)....the EU came back rather quickly to identify how they'd tariff the US (Jack Daniels whiskey, jeans, etc).
Well....it took about forty-eight hours for the Trump administration to lay down the next discussion 'card'.....a tariff on cars from the EU.
Most folks don't realize that a tariff already exists within the EU....ten-percent tariff on US-made cars coming into the EU member states. Roughly a 2.5-percent tariff for EU cars coming into the US.
Who gets the blunt end of this? Well, this is a curious thing. There aren't that many US-made vehicles which Europeans desire. I'll admit that the Jeep is one, but across the whole US market....US vehicles don't typically sell that well in Europe.
Now....which country does manufacture cars which are highly desired in the US? France? No. Italy, not since the 1970s. Greece? No. Spain? No. Germany? Oh......yeah.
So this tariff discussion that expanded, is really only pointed at one single nation....Germany. My guess is that they'd really like to talk more on massive tariffs on US products to really make their point. But I suspect that the German business folks are dragging the political folks quietly into a room and telling them that a tariff war is not what you really desire.
What'll happen? Maybe a week of hyped-up forum chatter, and then the topic will disappear entirely. At some point in May, I expect the TTIP trade-talks to get picked up and the EU will go back to work to settle the tariff thing rather quickly. It has to be settled before BREXIT occurs because if they linger on this....the Brits, after BREXIT, will stage a massive campaign to get the better deals.
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