Trump vs EU: Next Round in Battle Features White House Visit
The visit to the White House by
Trump has already imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from
Trump badly wants to reduce the
As Juncker was flying over, Trump set the tone with a tweet:
“Tariffs are the greatest!” he wrote. “Either a country which has treated
When Juncker, the doyen of compromise and consensus politics in the EU, walks into Trump’s office, the hope is that the mood will be different.
“This is an occasion to de-dramatize any potential tensions around trade and to engage in an open, constructive dialogue,” said Juncker’s spokesman, Margaritis Schinas.
The stakes are high, as the car industry carries huge heft in terms of trade and jobs in both the EU and
The European car federation says that
If Trump imposes a 25 percent tariff on imports of cars, trucks and auto parts, it “risks dragging us all down to a game of tit for tat retaliations that ultimately leave consumers in the
The EU has already told its
Not only is the EU firmly against the tariffs, but so is the
On top of that, the EU also has a huge stake in the
German producers and supplies employ more than 118,000 people at about 300 plants, and manufacture more than 800,000 vehicles per year in the
Tariffs on the industry could change all that.
“Open markets are of decisive significance for our involvement in the
Usually, such economic considerations alone would push the sides reach a compromise. But that’s not necessarily the case now.
Juncker is not bringing any blockbuster offers to
Instead, Juncker intends to get a better understanding of what the Trump administration really wants. He will also discuss the possibility of trade talks between major auto-exporting countries and of an EU-
Whatever compromise they are looking for, “the Trump administration doesn’t want mutual concessions,” said Edward Alden, senior fellow at the
“It wants unilateral concessions” from the EU.
Paul Wiseman in