CHINA/EU/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump repeated Friday [6-22-18] his threat to slap stiff tariffs on European cars, hours after the European Union started imposing duties on a range of American products worth $3 billion in retaliation for separate Trump curbs imposed on steel and aluminum. Mr. Trump’s latest rhetorical broadside over trade indicates his desire to continue engaging in combat on multiple commercial fronts, moves that have roiled global markets in recent weeks. Earlier in the week, the president issued a statement saying he was widening his attack on Beijing, threatening to place tariffs on up to $450 billion of Chinese goods if the government retaliates for new duties on Chinese goods slated to take effect July 6. Following the tweet, shares in the big three German auto makers— BMW AG, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG —were all down slightly in after-hours trading. Mr. Trump’s tweet suggests that, after picking trade fights with China over intellectual property, and a dozen countries over global metals overcapacity, he is now eager to move on to autos. The statement underscores the importance he is placing on a probe his administration launched last month into whether big tariffs could be imposed on vehicle imports in the name of national security.”
-Jacob M. Schlesinger, Emre Peker and Christina Rogers, “Trump Threatens 20% Tariff on European Cars, Seeks More U.S. Production,” The Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2018 2:31 pm