BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks fell sharply on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to push ahead with raising tariffs on $200 billion of imports from China by Friday and Beijing vowed to retaliate.
Markets nervously await the start of two-day trade talks in Washington later in the day to see if a last-minute deal is struck to avoid further tariffs.
The benchmark DAX was down 90 points or 0.74 percent at 12,089 in opening deals after gaining 0.7 percent the previous day.
Automakers fell on tariff worries, with BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen falling between 1.5 percent and 2 percent.
Metro AG slumped 4.7 percent after its fiscal second-quarter net loss widened.
Continental AG tumbled 3.4 percent. The automotive manufacturing company reported a 22 percent fall in first-quarter net profit.
Defense contractor Rheinmetall gained 1 percent. The company confirmed its FY19 outlook after reporting a rise in Q1 earnings and sales.
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