Car nations including EU mull meeting without US to discuss threat of tariffs on car imports | City A.M.

A number of the world’s biggest car exporting nations are reportedly planning to meet in the absence of US to discuss their response to President Donald Trump’s tariff threat on car imports.

Bloomberg reported that representatives from the EU, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Mexico are preparing to meet without Trump in Geneva on 31 July to co-ordinate a response if the president slaps levies on car imports, as well as discuss possible reforms to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which Trump has threatened to abandon.

The news follows Trump’s meeting with the European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Washington to discuss trade, prompting optimism that the looming trade war was thawing.

Read more: European car makers gain after Trump’s EU ‘trade deal’

At the meeting, Trump agreed to agreed to act to resolve the issue of steel and aluminium tariffs, which he imposed on the EU earlier this summer, as well as scrapping other potential penalties, including possible tariffs on the EU’s massive car industry.

However, the US is currently mulling sweeping changes to vehicle imports after Trump ordered a national security investigation back in May, saying the automotive sector was “critical to our strength as a nation” .

Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross promised a “thorough, fair and transparent investigation”, but said foreign imports may have “eroded” the power of US carmakers.

Read more: Wall Street jumps as US-EU trade tensions ease