Canada, Europe Say US Will Feel Auto Tariff

European leaders expressed dismay Wednesday at President Trump's announcement of a 25% tariff on auto imports while promising to quickly assess their options. "I deeply regret the US decision," said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, per the New York Times. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's response was more forceful. "This is a very direct attack," Carney said, per the AP. "We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country." Both leaders argued that Americans will share the pain caused by the tariff.

• Canada: Trump's "trade war is hurting American consumers and workers and it will hurt more," Carney said. He made his comments while campaigning for the April 28 election on the Windsor, Ontario, side of the Ambassador Bridge, per the AP. The span, at Detroit on the US side, carries 25% of the trade between the two countries and is especially important to auto manufacturing. Carney said he'll meet with the US-Canada cabinet committee on Thursday to consider options that will include retaliatory tariffs against products from the US, per the Wall Street Journal.

• Europe: "Tariffs are taxes—bad for businesses [and] worse for consumers equally in the US and the European Union," von der Leyen's statement said, per Politico Europe. Europe stands to be hit hard by the tariff, and the European Union could feel pressure to retaliate. EU nations send nearly one-fourth of their auto exports to the US, their biggest export market. Almost three-fourths of those vehicles are made by Germany's Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, or BMW, which has already said it projects the trade conflicts will cost it $1 billion this year. "If you overdo it with tariffs, it sends a negative spiral to all market participants," company Chairman Oliver Zipse told Bloomberg, saying there are "no winners in that game."

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