President Donald Trump has said he is planning to slap 25% tariffs on goods made in the European Union, claiming the bloc was created to "screw the United States."
"We'll be announcing it very soon," he told reporters at his first cabinet meeting of his second term. "It'll be 25% generally speaking and that will be on cars and all other things."
During the meeting the US leader also accused Europe of taking advantage of the United States, but the European Union said it would react "firmly and immediately against unjustified tariffs."
Trump has already made a series of announcements about imposing tariffs on the US's largest trading partners. Earlier this month the US government imposed 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China.
"The European Union is a different case than Canada, a different kind of case, they've really taken advantage of us in a different way," the president said.
"They don't accept our cars, they don't accept essentially our farm products. They use all sorts of reasons why not, and we accept everything from them, and we have about a $300billion (£237billion) deficit with the European Union."
The EU rejected the president's claims, saying the creation of a regional market had made doing business in Europe easier for American firms.
"It has been a boon for the United States," a spokesperson for the European Commission said. "We're ready to partner if you play by the rules. But we will also protect our consumers and businesses at every turn. They expect no less from us."
The comments come after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arrived in Washington DC today to meet with the president about the UK's relationship with the United States.