Days before Europeans warned Iran of nuclear deal violations, Trump secretly threatened to impose 25
Source: WaPo
Days before Europeans warned Iran of nuclear deal violations, Trump secretly threatened to impose 25% tariff on European autos if they didnt
A week before Germany, France and Britain formally accused Iran of breaching the 2015 nuclear deal, the Trump administration issued a private threat to the Europeans that shocked officials in all three countries.
If they refused to call out Tehran and initiate an arcane dispute mechanism in the deal, the United States would impose a 25 percent tariff on European automobiles, the Trump officials warned, according to European officials familiar with the conversations.
Within days, the three countries would formally accuse Iran of violating the deal, triggering a recourse provision that could reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran and unravel the last remaining vestiges of the Obama-era agreement.
The U.S. effort to coerce European foreign policy through tariffs, a move one European official equated to extortion, represents a new level of hardball tactics with Americas oldest allies, underscoring the extraordinary tumult in the transatlantic relationship.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/days-before-europeans-warned-iran-of-nuclear-deal-violations-trump-secretly-threatened-to-impose-25percent-tariff-on-european-autos-if-they-didnt/2020/01/15/0a3ea8ce-37a9-11ea-a01d-b7cc8ec1a85d_story.html?arc404=true
riversedge
(69,730 posts)It is a wonder the EU is talking to us at all!
..........The U.S. effort to coerce European foreign policy through tariffs, a move one European official equated to extortion, represents a new level of hardball tactics with Americas oldest allies, underscoring the extraordinary tumult in the transatlantic relationship.
Karadeniz
(22,283 posts)Lonestarblue
(9,880 posts)The US enjoys a large trade surplus for services provided to EU countries. If Trump puts tariffs on autos, they can put high tariffs on services. Trump is a bully, and the more you give in to him, the more he will demand. There is no end to his malicious manipulations that I suspect are primarily to benefit Saudi Arabia and whatever future real estate developments have been promised to the Trump-Kushner Organizations.