US backs away from trade war with EU

President Donald Trump and European leaders pulled back from the brink of a trade war over autos yesterday and agreed to open talks to tear down trade barriers between the United States and the European Union.

But the agreement was vague, the coming negotiations with Europe are sure to be contentious and the United States remains embroiled in major trade disputes with China and other trading partners.

In a hastily called White House Rose Garden appearance with Trump in Washington, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the US and the EU have agreed to hold off on new tariffs, suggesting that the United States will suspend plans to start taxing European auto imports – a move that would have marked a major escalation in trade tensions between the allies.

Trump also said the EU had agreed to buy ‘‘a lot of soybeans’’ and increase its imports of liquefied natural gas from the US And the two agreed to resolve an ongoing dispute over US tariffs on steel and aluminium.

‘‘It’s encouraging that they’re talking about freer trade rather than trade barriers and an escalating tariff war,’’ said Rufus Yerxa, president of the National Foreign Trade Council and a former US trade official. But he said reaching a detailed trade agreement with the EU would likely prove difficult.

At least the tone was friendlier than it has been. During a recent European trip, Trump referred to the EU as a ‘‘foe, what they do to us in trade.’’ Juncker, after Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, said in March that ‘‘this is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this. But we have to do it. We can also do stupid.’’

Yesterday, Trump and Juncker said they have agreed to work toward ‘‘zero tariffs’’ and ‘‘zero subsidies’’ on nonautomotive goods.

Trump told reporters it was a ‘‘very big day for free and fair trade.’’