The European Union (EU) has offered a reciprocal reduction in US car tariffs, with additional export credits also being discussed, the Financial Times reported, citing its sources.
The EU is ready to waive 10% tariffs on US cars if the US reduces its tariffs to 20%. According to two sources of the Financial Times, the US is ready to reduce the economic barrier to 17.5%.
In recent weeks, the possibility of providing export credits to European car companies that have production facilities in the US has been discussed. Initially, the German concerns BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and the Swedish Volvo Cars supported this proposal.
European carmakers, which do not have factories in the US, oppose this plan. In addition, Germany also doubts the correctness of this approach. An unnamed official said that “an offset agreement (an agreement with investment obligations - TASS note) is not suitable for everyone“. He added that US President Donald Trump “did not like this idea too much“.
The American leader announced the introduction of 30% tariffs on all European exports from August 1, in addition to the already existing 10% tariffs on steel, aluminum and cars from the EU. In response, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen announced that these tariffs would undermine transatlantic supply chains and called for an agreement to be reached by August 1, no matter what. In turn, European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič confirmed that the EU will seek to eliminate tariffs from the US, but at the same time has already prepared a list of US exports worth EUR 72 billion per year that will be subject to retaliatory duties if the negotiations fail.