The Opening Shots Of A U.S. - Europe Trade War?

American banks like Goldman Sachs, whose London offices are pictured here, will be forced by the new EU requirement to raise billions of euros to keep operating in Europe, according to the Financial Times. AFP

Japan Today/AFP: EU takes on U.S. in tit-for-tat bank row

BRUSSELS — The EU will require big foreign banks operating in Europe to set aside billions in reserve funds in a tit-for-tat move against the United States that could also affect post-Brexit Britain, according to a draft proposal seen by AFP.

The European Commission, the executive body of the 28-nation European Union, on Wednesday will announce a series of new banking regulations that will include the new requirement.

“We are actually mirroring what the U.S. has already done,” a European source said in advance of the announcement of the new capital requirements.

The U.S. in 2014 angered Brussels when it suddenly required major European banks—such as Germany’s Deutsche Bank—to park billions in the United States in case problems at their subsidiaries threatened to involve the U.S. taxpayer.

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Update: EU to retaliate against US bank capital rules (Financial Times)

WNU Editor: This is all happening without a Donald Trump in he White House. One can only imagine on what will be happening when he is finally sworn in .... and on how he will handle this "tit-for-tat" trade fight.