Thursday January 16, 2020
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In the conflict with Iran, the United States is said to have threatened Germany, France and Great Britain with punitive tariffs on car imports. The background is the attempt by the three countries to maintain the nuclear agreement with Iran.
The United States is said to have threatened Germany, France and Great Britain with punitive tariffs on cars in the dispute over the nuclear deal with Iran. The Washington Post reported that the US government had used this to urge Europeans to activate the agreement’s dispute settlement mechanism. Punitive tariffs of 25 percent on car imports have been threatened, the newspaper writes, citing European representatives.
Germany, France and the UK recently decided to trigger the dispute settlement mechanism, which can ultimately lead to the reintroduction of UN sanctions against Iran. According to the Washington Post, government officials issued the threat a week earlier. A European source spoke of “blackmail”.
Counterproductive threat
According to the newspaper, however, it is unclear whether it was the US threat that caused the Europeans to trigger the mechanism. Berlin, Washington and Paris had announced the move weeks ago. The US threat is even said to have been counterproductive: Europeans have almost refrained from initiating the dispute settlement mechanism, fearing that if they become aware of the US threat, they will be seen as Washington’s henchmen.
The United States unilaterally canceled the nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and subsequently imposed sanctions on Tehran. Germany, France and Great Britain are still trying to save the agreement.
Reintroduction of UN sanctions?
However, in response to US action, Iran is now openly violating the terms of the agreement, which is intended to prevent Tehran from building an atomic bomb. Following the targeted killing of Iran’s influential general Kassem Soleimani in a US drone attack in Iraq in early January, Tehran announced the “fifth and final phase” of its withdrawal from the nuclear deal.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas from the SPD finally said that the dispute settlement mechanism had been triggered “after intensive consultations” with France and Great Britain. This provides for a multi-stage procedure with numerous deadlines and can take several months. Without an agreement with Iran, the mechanism could lead to the reintroduction of UN sanctions.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened punitive tariffs of up to 25 percent on cars from Europe. However, it was about trade issues and not about foreign and security issues.
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