Europe will pay a ‘big price,’ Trump warns on tariffs

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Tuesday the European Union would have to “pay a big price” for not buying enough American exports if he won the Nov. 5 election.

“I’ll tell you what, the European Union sounds so nice, so lovely, right? All the nice European little countries that get together,” Trump said during a rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, after promising to pass the “Trump reciprocal trade act.”

“They don’t take our cars. They don’t take our farm products. They sell millions and millions of cars in the United States. No, no, no, they are going to have to pay a big price,” he said.

Trump has vowed to impose a 10% tariff on imports from all countries, and 60% duties on imports from China. These would hit supply chains throughout the world, likely triggering retaliation and raising costs, economists warn.

He has unnerved democratically governed Taiwan by saying that Taiwan should pay the United States for its defence and that it had taken America’s semiconductor business. The U.S. is bound by law to provide Chinese-claimed Taiwan with the means to defend itself despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.

Democrat Kamala Harris warned tens of thousands of people gathered in Washington at her biggest rally on Tuesday that her Republican opponent Donald Trump was seeking unchecked power as their tightening race for the presidency entered its final week.

“This is someone who is unstable, obsessed with revenge, consumed with grievance and out for unchecked power,” Harris said during what her campaign called her closing argument before a tightly contested Nov. 5 election.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Eric Beech; Editing by Heather Timmons and Michael Perry)