President Donald Trump said that the U.S. and the EU should drop all tariffs, barriers and subsidies, just hours before the bloc’s trade chiefs present him with proposals on Wednesday that go a long way toward that outcome in a make or break meeting at the White House.
“The European Union is coming to Washington tomorrow to negotiate a deal on Trade. I have an idea for them,” Trump said in a Tuesday night tweet. “Both the U.S. and the E.U. drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies!”
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom will signal the EU’s willingness to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement on manufactured goods, or a so-called plurilateral sectoral agreement between all major car exporters which would cut or eliminate tariffs on automobiles globally.
The overtures are a last-ditch attempt to persuade him from imposing tariffs on European car exports to the U.S., in what could deal a serious blow to the bloc’s economy.