Trump’s 25% European Car Tariff Threat Didn’t Even Last A Week

• Trump won’t increase the tariff on cars imported from Europe.
• Rate was set to jump from 15% to 25% starting this week.
• The European Union now has until July 4 to finalize trade deal.

Trump Always Chickens Out (TACO) has become a common refrain, because the President often promises to take drastic action but doesn’t follow through. That’s happened once again as Trump has backed down from his latest tariff threat.

Last Friday, Trump said he would be “increasing tariffs charged to the European Union for cars and trucks coming into the United States” starting this week. He said the rate would increase from 15% to 25%, because the “European Union is not complying with our fully agreed to trade deal.”

More: Trump’s Tariff On European Cars Was 15% On Friday, He Wants 25% By Next Week

Now that time is up, the ballroom enthusiast is reversing course. In a social media post, Trump said he had a “great call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and he agreed to hold off on tariffs until July 4. The president went on to threaten that if the European Union fails to implement the trade deal by America’s 250th birthday, tariffs will “immediately jump to much higher levels.”

Trump didn’t say how high tariffs would go or whether they would target more than just vehicles, but previous reports have suggested the European Union could get the trade deal finalized in June.

The EU Commission President alluded to this as she said “Good progress is being made towards tariff reduction by early July.” She added, “We remain fully committed, on both sides [US and EU], to its implementation.”

Court Deals Trump’s Tariffs Another Blow

In other tariff news, the United States Court of International Trade dealt yet another blow to the Trump administration. In a lengthy ruling, they found the government’s new 10% global tariff was illegal. As the Liberty Justice Center explained, the court found that Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 “does not authorize the President to impose these tariffs under current economic conditions.”

They went on to say that “Section 122 is a narrow, time-limited tool intended to address specific balance-of-payments crises – not a blank check for the executive branch to impose worldwide trade restrictions in response to ordinary trade deficits or to circumvent prior judicial rulings.”

White House

The decision follows a high-profile Supreme Court ruling that struck down tariffs applied under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The government responded by introducing a 10% tariff using Section 122, which sparked the lawsuit filed by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of businesses Burlap & Barrel and Basic Fun!

Politico said the court “barred the administration from collecting … duties from Washington state and [the] two companies that sued over the policy.” However, they didn’t “issue nationwide relief for the hundreds of thousands of importers that have paid or continue to pay the tariffs.”

This is because the court found that only Washington state and the two business have standing. However, it likely paves the way for even more lawsuits.

White House

The Auto World