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Latest target in President Donald Trump's war: Mercedes Benz and other European cars

WASHINGTON -- Less than a month before an expected meeting with European leaders, President Trump threatened Friday to slap 20% tariffs on Europe's cars in the latest salvo of the trade wars with U.S. allies.

"Based on the Tariffs and Trade Barriers long placed on the U.S. and it great companies and workers by the European Union, if these Tariffs and Barriers are not soon broken down and removed, we will be placing a 20% Tariff on all of their cars coming into the U.S. Build them here!" Trump tweeted.

The latest threat came the same day that European Union placed tariffs on U.S. products ranging from orange juice to vodka, retaliation for Trump tariffs earlier this year on aluminum and steel.

Trump, who clashed with allies including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during this month's G-7 summit, is expected to speak with some of those same leaders next month at a NATO summit in Brussels.

The U.S. Commerce Department is investigating whether automobile imports threaten to impair the national security of the United States, the rationale the Trump administration used to promote tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Trump, who reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron he wants to prevent Mercedes-Benz cars from rolling down Fifth Avenue in New York, is even considering a ban on German luxury car makers from the United States market, according to the German magazine WirtschaftsWoche.

European officials have responded to Trump with tariff threats of their own on U.S. products, including automotive products, raising prices for consumers worldwide.

Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler warned investors Thursday trade tensions are likely to damage sales. Stock prices for European automakers fell in the wake of Trump's tweet on tariffs.