President Donald Trump on Wednesday at least temporarily toned down his harsh rhetoric targeting the EU as he spoke of eliminating tariffs with European allies before meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
“He’s a very smart man and a tough man that represents his people well and the countries well. And we want to have a fair trade deal, and we’re looking to have a fair trade deal, and hopefully we can work something out,” the president said at the White House before the pair met with other US and EU officials.
“We just want it to be a level playing field for our farmers, for the manufacturers, for everybody, and we also want a big beneficiary, frankly, to be the European Union,” he said just days after labeling the EU a “foe” and threatening to slap a 25 percent tariff on imported cars.
Juncker replied that the US and EU are “allies” and called for cutting tariffs.
“We are close partners, allies, not enemies. We have to work together. We are representing half of the world trade. We have to talk to one another,” he said.
“I do think that we should focus on the reducing tariffs instead of increasing them. And that’s what we have to do,” he added, a sentiment the president said he agreed with.
“If we can have no tariffs and no barriers and so no subsidies, the United States would be extremely pleased. We have many countries, we won’t say the European Union, we have many countries with massive barriers and massive tariffs,” Trump continued, adding that the US has to fight back.
“We have to follow. And you could call it retaliation, but I would rather just say we want reciprocal. So whether it is with European Union or others, it has to be reciprocal at a minimum. And we are working on that, and we’re making tremendous strides.”
Trump reported that the US was making progress negotiating with Mexico over trade.
While Trump struck a conciliatory note, several of his senior economic advisers told The Washington Post that he plans to go ahead and impose a 25 percent tariff on close to $200 billion in foreign-made automobiles later this year.
The president plans to forge ahead despite widespread, bipartisan blowback on his escalating trade war.
The outcry intensified this week after Team Trump announced that it would spend $12 billion to help farmers who are being crushed by tariffs imposed on their products by other countries in retaliation for US tariffs on imported aluminum and steel.
Trump dismissed the criticism telling advisers and lawmakers to trust his business instincts.
“Every time I see a weak politician asking to stop Trade talks or the use of Tariffs to counter unfair Tariffs, I wonder, what can they be thinking?” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
“Are we just going to continue and let our farmers and country get ripped off?”
But there was scant evidence that Trump’s strategy was working.
Juncker was expected to propose two ideas to try and calm tensions with the White House, a European official briefed on the plan told the paper.
One was lower tariffs among all major auto-exporting countries, while another would be a targeted deal between the US and the EU to eliminate tariffs on industrial products, including cars.
