European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said Thursday that she was confident that the Trump administration would not impose tariffs on autos and auto parts imports, despite repeated threats from the White House to do so.
Malmstrom, speaking at a panel event at the World Economic Forum in Davos, said the tariffs were unlikely because they would be too damaging and undermine what progress the U.S. and the EU have made so far in trade negotiation planning. While talks have been agreed to by both sides for this year, no firm date has been set.
“We’re advancing, we have made some very important progress there, and there’s a process that is positive, I think, and it said also that we would not impose tariffs on each other,” she said, according to Reuters. “If that is violated by the U.S., we will have to respond. I don’t want to do that. But we will have to do that. But we are confident that we will not be taxed on this.”
The Trump administration, by contrast, has indicated that while plans to enact the tariffs are on hold, they remain an option. “I think the president’s inclined to do it,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told reporters last week, following a meeting with the White House.
The White House has held off on releasing a Commerce Department study on the international auto trade pending the outcome of the talks. The study is widely assumed to be a rationale for instituting new tariffs. The Trump administration’s move to delay the report was part of an effort to cool down relations between the sides and allow for negotiations.
The talks are looking rocky, though, as the U.S. has said it is keen on discussing the EU’s agricultural subsidies, and the EU has tried to rule out any such discussion.
Spokesmen for the White House and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office could not be reached for comment.
