Trump's hasty decision to impose tariffs on steel imports has stoked talk of a brewing trade war, roiling both the political establishment and the global economic order. President Donald Trump threatened to hit car exports from the European Union with a retaliatory tax, escalating a brewing global fight with U.S. trading partners triggered by newly announced 25 percent U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. The move also prompted E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a tax on their cars which freely pour into the U.S.," the president said on Twitter. In a post on Twitter, Trump cited a "big imbalance" between the two countries, said if the 28-nation bloc insisted on imposing punitive taxes on U.S. goods, America would strike back on European car exports. Canada, on the other hand, is the biggest supplier, accounting for 16% of U.S. steel imports, or $4.3 billion in 2017, followed by South Korea, Mexico, Brazil and China, according to data compiled by Wood Mackenzie.
– A full-blown trade war is looking ever more likely with President Trump threatening US allies upset with the tariffs on steel and aluminum imports he announced just days earlier, USA Today reports. "If the E.U. wants to further increase their already massive tariffs and barriers on U.S. companies doing business there, we will simply apply a Tax on their Cars which freely pour into the U.S. They make it impossible for our cars (and more) to sell there. Big trade imbalance!" Trump tweeted Saturday from Mar-a-Lago. The president announced a 25% tariff on imported steel and 10% tariff on imported aluminum on Thursday. Both Canada and the EU called the tariffs "unacceptable," and the EU threatened to retaliate in the form of tariffs on Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Kentucky bourbon, and jeans. Canada also threatened retaliation of its own. The US was the largest market for cars exported from the EU in 2016, importing over 1 million, CNBC reports. According to the Washington Post, Trump's newest tariff threat mostly targets Germany, which exported $23 billion in cars to the US in 2016. Germany's BMW and Volkswagen employ thousands of workers in factories in the US, and critics say a tariff on their cars would only hurt US consumers. Trump said during his presidential campaign that he wanted to fix trade imbalances with China and Mexico. But his announced tariffs on aluminum and steel would mostly affect Canada, the UK, Germany, South Korea, Turkey, and Japan—all allies of the US. “None of this is reasonable, but reason is a sentiment that is very unevenly distributed in this world,” the president of the EU says. Trump on Friday called trade wars "good and easy to win."