Trump: EU was ‘set up to take advantage’ of US in trade

US president Donald Trump has once again accused the European Union of taking advantage of America in trade, saying the era of “global freeloading” of the United States is over, escalating tensions with Washington's long-standing allies.

“We love the countries of the European Union. But the European Union, of course, was set up to take advantage of the United States,” Trump said Wednesday at a rally in the state of North Dakota. “And you know what, we can’t let that happen.”

“The era of global freeloading and taking advantage of the United States is over,” Trump said.

Trump repeated his claims that Brussels is cheating Washington on trade, saying the US lost over $150 billion on trade with the EU last year.

“We had a trade deficit…because they send the Mercedes in, they send the BMWs in, they send their products in [and when] we sent things to them, they say ‘No, thank you, we don’t take your product,” Trump said. “For all you free traders out there, that’s not free trade, that’s stupid trade.”

“I said to them, if you treat us that way and you don’t take down your barriers, if you’re not going to treat us fairly then we are going to tax all those beautiful Mercedes Benzes.

PressTV-List of world countries retaliating US tariffs grows

India and Turkey have begun implementing their own retaliatory tariffs against the United States over Washington’s metal duties.

His latest comment comes amid continued tensions between the US and other world economic powers have flared up in the past few weeks.

The EU on Friday imposed a range of tariffs on goods worth $3.3 billion in a tit-for-tat response to Trump's decision to apply stiff tariffs on European steel and aluminum exports.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Monday that the EU will retaliate again if Trump imposes more tariffs on EU goods.

In response Trump threatened on Twitter to slap a 20 percent tariff on European car imports, heightening worries of a trade war which could dent growth on both sides of the Atlantic.

The EU tariffs, applied to items ranging from blue jeans to bourbon, appear designed in part to hit industries which are predominantly active in states dominated by Trump's Republican Party.

Le Maire also said the trade dispute underscored the importance of deeper integration in the eurozone, which would foster stronger companies that could better compete on the global stage.

Yet eurozone members remain sharply divided on the French-German agreement announced this month including proposals such as a common budget and a move to harmonize corporate taxes.

The competing visions will clash at a EU summit in Brussels this week, with the Netherlands leading an effort to scrap the budget plan.

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