EU fires back at Trump tariff threat

The European Union has indicated it won’t roll over after President Trump’s latest tariff threat.

"If they decide to raise their import tariffs, we'll have no choice, again, but to react," said EU commissioner Jyrki Katainen during an interview with French newspaper Le Monde as reported by Reuters. "We don't want to fight (over trade) in public via Twitter. We should end the escalation”

Katainen was responding to a tweet from President Trump on Friday:

Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it 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. Build them here!

The U.S. Commerce Department is currently investigating whether auto imports are a threat to national security. On May 23, the Commerce Department announced it would launch a 232 investigation in to auto imports. “The Department’s investigation into whether imports of automobiles and automobile parts threatens to impair national security is ongoing" a Commerce Department spokesperson tells FOX Business.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been in discussion with European leaders and told FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs back in March that he expects to reduce Europe’s trade barrier in an expedited manner, but warned of challenges with the bureaucratic European Commission.