Trump has said his administration will soon announce a 25% “reciprocal” tariff on goods from the EU, including cars.

“The threat is not only of an impact on trade dynamics.

“The truth is far more dramatic … What is coming from the American leadership is an attack on European companies and jobs,” Confindustria president Emanuele Orsini said in a statement.

He said Trump’s trade policies aimed to “deindustrialise the (European) continent” and urged Brussels to consider “extraordinary measures for an extraordinary time”.

“It is a dark hour,” Orsini said.

Bank of Italy governor Fabio Panetta said this month that a full implementation of the tariffs threatened before the US election, plus retaliatory measures, would cut EU growth by half a percentage point, with Germany and Italy hardest hit.

The European Commission said yesterday that the EU would react “firmly and immediately against unjustified barriers to free and fair trade, including when tariffs are used to challenge legal and non-discriminatory policies”.