U.S. President Donald Trump criticized the European Union for not proposing a favorable trade deal to Washington — within hours of his first formal meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We’re talking, but I don’t feel that they’re offering a fair deal yet,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, after leaving the G7 Summit in Canada early on Monday.
“They’re either going to make a good deal, or they’ll just pay whatever we say they have to pay,” he said. He reiterated his long-standing belief that the bloc was created to “hurt the United States on trade.”
The transatlantic partners are in talks to reach a deal to safeguard the €1.7 trillion transatlantic trade relationship. If they miss a July 8 deadline, Trump’s universal 10 percent tariff could jump to 50 percent — a level that would cripple EU exports. In addition, EU steel, aluminum and car exports are subject to 25 percent tariffs.
On Monday, Trump had his first bilateral meeting with von der Leyen, the EU’s top official responsible for negotiating trade deals on behalf of the bloc’s 27 members, at the summit in the Canadian Rockies.
She and Trump had instructed their teams “to accelerate their work to strike a good and fair deal. Let’s get it done,” she said in a social media post afterwards.
Earlier Monday, the Commission dismissed media reports that the EU was willing to accept the 10 percent U.S. baseline tariff, as foreseen in the recent U.K.-U.S. trade accord. Chief spokesperson Paula Pinho denied the reports, saying they were “speculative and do not reflect the current state of discussions.”
“Negotiations are ongoing, and no agreement has been reached at this stage. From the start, the EU has objected to unjustified and illegal U.S. tariffs,” Pinho told POLITICO.
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