what we get from President Trump’s meeting with European Commission President Juncker and EU Trade Commissioner Malmstrom in Washington.
Key Quotes
“Warming up for the meeting, President Trump tweeted yesterday that “Tariffs are the greatest! Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs”.”
“Overnight he also tweeted that “The European Union is coming to Washington tomorrow to negotiate a deal on Trade. I have an idea for them. Both the US and EU drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies! That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready – but they won’t”.”
“Juncker goes to the meeting aiming to compromise on Trump’s auto tariff threat, although the FT pointed out that it may not be that easy to achieve tangible progress. For example a plurilateral tariff cutting deal involving the world’s biggest vehicle producers may also require approval from China as it’s a big manufacturer of car parts or concessions from the US on its the existing 25% duty on light trucks.”
“Conversely a bilateral deal between the EU and US may also involve changes that the two sides are hesitant to make, such as opening up more of the agriculture market in the EU. So it should be interesting. On a related note, Reuters has reported that the US administration will provide around $12bn of relief aid to US farmers to partly offset the flow on impacts from the trade conflict with China/EU.”
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