European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she had “a good discussion on our shared challenges as allies” with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance in Paris on Tuesday.
The sit-down was the first time top EU and U.S. officials met after the election of Donald Trump, who announced 25 percent steel and aluminum tariffs on the rest of the world overnight. Von der Leyen labeled Vance as an ally just hours after she vowed Brussels would hit back against Trump’s tariffs.
Von der Leyen also hinted at cooperating over global overproduction of steel, mainly coming from China.
After a meeting in the margins of an AI Summit in France, Von der Leyen welcomed Vance to Europe via a post on Elon Musk’s X platform. “From security and stability to the great promise of technology and the critical challenge of non-market overcapacity,” she said.
Non-market overcapacity is trade lingo for China and a host of other countries making more steel than the EU requires, often aided by state aid that Europe, the U.S. and Japan cannot offer.
Vance told reporters that the “Trump administration has been very clear that we care a lot about Europe,” according to Reuters. “We see a lot of economic relationship to build upon … we also want to make sure that we’re actually engaged in a security partnership” which is good for both sides.
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