STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Volvo Cars CEO Hakan Samuelsson said on Friday that customers would have to pay a large part of tariff-related cost increases, and that it could become impossible to import the smallest cars in the company’s lineup to the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he was recommending a straight 50% tariff on goods from the European Union starting June 1, saying the EU has been hard to deal with on trade.
Samuelsson in an interview told Reuters that a 50% tariff would limit the ability of Volvo Cars to sell its Belgium-made EX30 electric vehicle in the United States.
But despite the threats of rising tariffs, Samuelsson said he was hopeful that Europe and the United States will soon come to an agreement.
“I believe there will be a deal soon. It could not be in the interest of Europe or the U.S. to shut down trade between them,” Samuelsson said.
Shares in the company were down 5.0% at 1257 GMT.
(Reporting by Marie Mannes in Stockholm and Nora Eckert in Detroit, writing by Louise Breusch Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik)
