Trump and Juncker strike late trade deal
Donald Trump and the EU last night avoided an all-out trade war after striking a deal at the White House. Jean-claude Juncker, the European Commission president, and President Trump hailed an agreement to work towards abolishing transatlantic tariffs on goods, as they eased tensions. The pair agreed to suspend new tariffs on cars while negotiations continue.
DONALD TRUMP and the European Union last night averted an all-out trade war after striking an unexpected deal. Following a meeting at the White House with Jean-claude Juncker, the European Commission president, President Trump said there was a “new phase” in relations, and it was a “very big day for free and fair trade” as they agreed to work on abolishing transatlantic tariffs.
He said the US and the EU had agreed to work toward “zero tariffs” on industrial goods, apart from cars. The US president said: “We agreed today, first of all, to work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods.
“We will not go against the spirit of this agreement, unless either party terminates the negotiation. We’re starting the negotiation right now but we know very much where it’s going.”
Mr Trump said the EU had agreed to buy “a lot of soybeans almost immediately,” and increase its imports of liquefied natural gas from the US “massively”. He added: “Both of us will win.”
Mr Juncker said there would be no further tariffs, including on cars, while they negotiate, and that existing US tariffs on European steel and aluminium would be re-examined. He said: “I had the intention to make a deal today. And we made a deal today.”
Wall Street was boosted by the deal with the S&P 500 closing at its highest level since January 29.
Mr Trump exempted cars from the agreement and he is believed to still be considering in the future putting 25per cent tariffs on nearly $200 billion (£151 billion) in car imports, which would particularly harm Germany.
European officials had warned before the White House meeting that they would respond to car tariffs by putting similar duties on $20billion of US goods, including agricultural, hitech and other machinery.
Mr Trump has repeatedly expressed frustration that the EU imposes a 10 per cent tariff on imported US cars, while the US tariff on European cars is only 2.5 per cent.
Earlier this year he introduced a 25 per cent tariff on steel imports, and 10 per cent on aluminium.
The EU responded to that by imposing tariffs on more than $3billion of US goods, including iconic brands of whiskey and motorcycles. Ahead of their meeting Mr Trump told Mr Juncker: “Hopefully, we can work something out. We expect something very positive to take place.
“We just want it to be a level playing field for our farmers, for our manufacturers, for everybody. And, we also want a big beneficiary, frankly, to be the European Union.” Mr Juncker said the US and EU were “close partners and allies, not enemies”. He added: “We represent half of the world’s trade. We have to work together. We have to talk to each other, not at one another, and that’s what we do today.
“We have to focus on reducing tariffs not increasing them, that’s our job.”
The US president has faced criticism over his tariffs policy from Republicans in Congress.
Seeking to quell the dissent within his own party, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: “When you have people snipping at your heels during a negotiation, it will only take longer to make a deal, and the deal will never be as good as it could have been with unity. Negotiations are going really well, be cool. The end result will be worth it!” n Mr Trump last night announced he was calling off a second summit with Vladimir Putin until an investigation into Russian collusion was completed.