Trump Today: President threatens tariffs on European cars, tells Republicans to stop ‘wasting their time’ on immigration
President Donald Trump threatened Friday to place tariffs on European cars, as he told congressional Republicans to stop “wasting their time” on immigration until after the midterm elections, and urged OPEC to boost oil production.
TARIFF THREAT
Trump made his latest tariff threat against European-made cars on Twitter, following the European Union’s imposition Friday of 25% tariffs on more than $3 billion worth of U.S. goods.
“Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and [its] great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S.,” the president tweeted. “Build them here!”
The tariffs put in place Friday by the EU were in response to Trump’s slapping tariffs on aluminum and steel imports. Shares of German auto makers BMW
BMW, -1.12%
, Volkswagen
VLKAY, +0.32%
and Daimler
DMLRY, +0.78%
lost ground after Trump’s tweet.
See: How Trump’s European auto tariff proposal could backfire.
Also read: Why a major trade war could mean a ‘full-blown recession.’
BACK OFF ON IMMIGRATION, TRUMP TELLS GOP
Trump said Republicans in Congress should stop “wasting their time” on immigration policy until after November’s midterm elections, when he predicted the GOP would pick up more seats.
It was the second time in two days he has been publicly at odds with Republicans over immigration. On Thursday, he questioned why the party was going ahead with votes amid dim prospects for passing legislation. Late Thursday, House Republican leaders said they were putting off until next week a vote on a bill that offers a pathway to citizenship for young undocumented immigrants known as dreamers. It also would provide $25 billion for Trump’s proposed border wall. At an event with so-called angel families who have lost loved ones to violence carried out by undocumented immigrants, Trump said “we will secure our borders.” Research has shown undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.
Trump said on Twitter, “we can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!” Last week, analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note that they believe odds of Democrats winning the House majority are around 60%.
Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
Elect more Republicans in November and we will pass the finest, fairest and most comprehensive Immigration Bills anywhere in the world. Right now we have the dumbest and the worst. Dems are doing nothing but Obstructing. Remember their motto, RESIST! Ours is PRODUCE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
Even if we get 100% Republican votes in the Senate, we need 10 Democrat votes to get a much needed Immigration Bill – & the Dems are Obstructionists who won’t give votes for political reasons & because they don’t care about Crime coming from Border! So we need to elect more R’s!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018
Read: Crying girl on Time cover wasn’t separated from mother, father says.
TWEET TO OPEC AS CARTEL MEETS
As the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries met in Vienna, Trump tweeted, “Hope OPEC will increase output substantially. Need to keep prices down!”
Members reportedly agreed to a nominal increase in production. Both West Texas Intermediate crude
CLQ8, +5.71%
and Brent crude
LCOQ8, +3.39%
prices rallied as the cartel agreed to boost output.
See: Oil prices rally after OPEC agrees to smaller-than-expected production boost.
Also read: 5 things investors need to know about OPEC’s decision to lift oil output.
Trump has taken aim at OPEC before, but it’s unclear what his complaints can accomplish.
Read: Why Trump is tweeting about OPEC — and what he can do about oil prices.
