Question 10857 — foreign policy

Summary

Ms. Liliana Tanguy questions the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs about the French position regarding the American desire to tax automobile imports. In addition to the imposition since June 1, 2018 of taxes on imports of steel and aluminum into the United States, the American president plans to introduce customs duties of up to 20%, compared to 2.5% at present, on all cars assembled in Europe and imported to the United States. In its written observations, dated June 29, 2018, addressed to the American Department of Commerce, the European Union takes note of this desire to tax these imports and maintains, as was the case with the tariffs on steel and aluminum, that the investigation concerning the importation of motor vehicles lacks legitimacy, factual basis and violates the rules of international trade law. The European Union adds that the implementation of these restrictive trade measures would not only harm the European market but also American exports, estimating that up to $294 billion in American exports could be subject to trade retaliatory measures from trading partners. German companies would be particularly affected by the application of these restrictive taxes. According to calculations by the Institute for Economic Research, Germany would in fact suffer a loss estimated at 5 billion euros, or 0.16% of its gross domestic product. On July 5, 2018, the German Chancellor Ms. Merkel declared herself “ready” to negotiate a reduction in automobile taxes, on condition of finding “a common European position”. This question will be raised at the end of July 2018, during of the upcoming visit of the President of the European Commission, Mr. Juncker, to Washington. She draws his attention to the importance of remaining firmly attached to the preservation of European unity and questions him about the French position regarding the German Chancellor's statements regarding a possible reduction in taxes on automobile exports.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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