President Trump announced Friday that he had struck a deal with the European Union to put a 25% tariff on its car imports, then followed that by saying, “only kidding.”
The comments came immediately after a White House event to announce a separate agreement with the EU on beef imports and while all the participants and media were still present.
“We’re working on a deal where the European Union will agree to pay a 25% tariff on all Mercedes-Benzs and BMWs coming into our country, so we appreciate that — I’m only kidding,” the president said to nervous laughter. Trump then pointed to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and a group of EU officials present for the event and said: “They started to get a little worried.”
The announcement came just one day after Trump announced he would put 10% tariffs on $300 billion worth of Chinese goods in one month and then later in the day said that the rate could go to 25% or even higher.
The joke came at a signing event for a deal to increase duty-free beef exports to Europe from $150 million to $420 million over seven years, an increase of more than 180%. EU Ambassador to the United States Stavros Lambrinidis was present for the signing, among other officials, as were representatives of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
