“Brussels has put European companies in a difficult position by unnecessarily politicising economic issues,” Szijjártó said.

After imposing tariffs on China’s electric car industry, which European car manufacturers objected to, the European Commission failed to build a normal customs cooperation with the United States, the minister said.

“Yet, the problem was not complicated: tariffs on the car industry, which is the backbone of the two continental economies, should have been reduced, and everyone would have been better off,” Szijjártó said.