
European automakers shares reportedly dropped on Thursday, November 29 followed by a warning of fresh US imported auto tariffs application before the end of the year. The warning came from one of the key European lawmakers.

According to a report by Germany's Wirtschaftwoche, a business and economics focused newspaper, European Union Budget Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said he expected the new tariffs before Christmas. By this, he only meant his concern about the tariffs application and did not indicate that anything had been decided in Washington, the Commission clarified.
New tariffs if imposed would mark a stark reversal to a July agreement between President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker to freeze auto levies. Juncker that time had even praised Trump for agreeing to hold off on new tariffs for European-made cars sold in the US, calling it a major concession from the White House.
Volkswagen AG shares reversed earlier gains following the news of Oettinger’s comments and recorded 0.7 per cent lower on the Deutsche Boerse in Frankfurt at €148.80 each by mid-day. BMW AG marked 1.26 per cent lower at €72.81 each while Daimler AG slipped 0.32 per cent lower at €50.29 each. The Stoxx Europe 600 Automobiles and Parts index, which traded 0.75% higher earlier in the session, also slipped 0.13 per cent into negative territory at 476.88 points following the Wirtschaftwoche report.
President Donald Trump consistently references the European auto sector as a potential target for tariffs. Yesterday he said new tariffs were studied after insinuating that the US carmaker General Motors would not close their plants in Ohio, Michigan & Maryland if previous levies remained in place.
Earlier this year, Trump had threatened to apply a 20 per cent tariff on all cars coming from the European Union to the US, although did not specify how and when the duty would impose. This comment came on the same day when the EU imposed retaliatory tariffs on US$3.4 billion worth of US goods in response to the Trump administration’s duty on imported aluminium and steel.
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