@roleerob, don't let yourself be fooled by whatever President Trump says.

The VAT in Europe is very different from Tariffs. VAT is a value-added tax that applies equally to all competitors - although the value might be different for clusters of products (e.g., bread vs cars). VAT is paid at each commercial step as a tax on the value that is added to the product by that specific company. In the end, similar products have similar taxes added to the price, independent of the manufacturer, tax that is paid by private consumers. This is how EU is sponsoring the social welfare policy. I can't believe POTUS is not informed on this. Still, he calls Tariffs a reciprocal thing to EU's VAT.