Germany said Friday it hopes the EU and United States can negotiate an agreement on US auto tariffs but the bloc was ready to retaliate, warning: “Nothing is off the table.”
US President Donald Trump this week announced 25-percent US duties on foreign-made cars, light trucks and vehicle parts, sparking criticism from world powers and sending stock markets into a tailspin.
The levies are due to take effect Thursday next week but Germany, the eurozone’s biggest economy and a major car manufacturer and exporter, noted that the European Union was seeking “intensive dialogue” with the United States.
Stressing “there are only losers” in trade disputes, government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said: “We are trying to reach a solution”.
“At the moment (the EU) still hopes and aims to reach an agreement in talks with the United States that can possibly avert a trade war,” he said in Berlin.
He added however that if the talks do not yield results, “it is clear that Europe can and will impose countermeasures”.
“At the moment nothing is off the table, everything is being looked at,” he said, without giving further details.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen previously said she “deeply” regretted the US auto tariffs and the EU would “continue to seek negotiated solutions”.
Before the duties come into force, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic held talks in Washington with Trump administration officials.
Trump has also threatened more sweeping tariffs against the bloc, which runs a large trade surplus with the United States.
German carmakers such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes, already under pressure as their business in key market China suffers, stand to be hit particularly hard by the new US duties.
Berlin has come out strongly against Trump’s move, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock saying Thursday that the US tariffs would ultimately backfire.
“Whoever demolishes the whole house with a wrecking ball only because the roof needs to be re-tiled will ultimately stand before ruins,” she said.