European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office Wednesday afternoon, where Trump promoted the idea of a no-tariff agreement on trade between the United States and the European Union.
“If we could have no tariffs and no barriers and no subsidies, the United States would be extremely pleased,” Trump said in brief remarks to reporters in the White House Oval Office, where he and Juncker held their meeting.
Juncker and Trump expressed hope to forge a fair deal on trade between the U.S. and the E.U.
“We want it to be a level playing field for our farmers, for our manufacturers, for everybody,” Trump said. “Whether it’s with the European Union or others, it has to be reciprocal in nature at a minimum, and we’re working on that, and I think we’re making tremendous strides.”
Trump called Juncker smart and tough with hopes to develop a fair trade deal that would be “good for everybody.”
Juncker emphasized the need for the two to work together.
Trump added, “We’re doing very well with Mexico. We’re doing very well with a lot of countries, actually, right now.”
One point of contention between the trade partners has been the disparity of tariffs on cars, the E.U. levying a ten percent tariffs on imports of U.S. cars, while the U.S. levies just a 2.5 percent tariff on European cars.
ABC News cited a senior European official in reporting that Juncker plans to offer two solutions to trade disputes between the U.S. and E.U.: “Eliminate tariffs on cars for all trading partners or create a limited free trade agreement between the U.S. and EU on industrial goods.” A condition of the deal would include the U.S. dropping “tariffs on steel and aluminum implemented last month and agree to not move forward with tariffs on European cars, the official said.”
Michelle Moons is a White House Correspondent for Breitbart News — follow on Twitter @MichelleDiana and Facebook.