BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned US President Donald Trump on Wednesday against unleashing an all-out trade war after he threatened to impose steep tariffs on cars from the European Union.
Both sides were already locked in a “trade conflict” since Trump’s decision to slap punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, said Merkel, adding that “it is worthwhile to prevent this conflict from becoming a real war”.
The EU has slapped tariffs on iconic US products including bourbon, jeans and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, as a symbolic tit-for-tat response to the metals duties.
Taking aim at Trump over his complaint that the EU, and in particular Germany, is running a massive trade surplus against the US, Merkel said that his calculation is skewed as it is based only on goods, not services.
