{"id":173283,"date":"2018-07-26T01:23:32","date_gmt":"2018-07-26T05:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=173283"},"modified":"2018-07-26T01:23:32","modified_gmt":"2018-07-26T05:23:32","slug":"trump-european-union-leaders-pull-back-from-trade-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/07\/26\/trump-european-union-leaders-pull-back-from-trade-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump, European Union leaders pull back from trade war"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Trump also said the EU had agreed to buy \u201ca lot of soybeans\u201d and increase its imports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. And the two agreed to resolve a dispute over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum. (Photo: Gage Skidmore\/Flickr\/CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump and European leaders pulled back from the brink of a trade war over autos Wednesday and agreed to open talks to tear down trade barriers between the United States and the European Union.<\/p>\n

But the agreement was vague, the coming negotiations with Europe are sure to be contentious and the United States remains embroiled in major trade disputes with China and other trading partners.<\/p>\n

In a hastily called Rose Garden appearance with Trump, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the U.S. and the EU have agreed to hold off on new tariffs, suggesting that the United States will suspend plans to start taxing European auto imports \u2014 a move that would have marked a major escalation in trade tensions between the allies.<\/p>\n

Trump also said the EU had agreed to buy \u201ca lot of soybeans\u201d and increase its imports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. And the two agreed to resolve a dispute over U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s encouraging that they’re talking about freer trade rather than trade barriers and an escalating tariff war,\u201d said Rufus Yerxa, president of the National Foreign Trade Council and a former U.S. trade official. But he said reaching a detailed trade agreement with the EU would likely prove difficult.<\/p>\n

The tone was friendlier than it has been. During a recent European trip, Trump referred to the EU as a \u201cfoe, what they do to us in trade.\u201d Juncker, after Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, said in March that \u201cthis is basically a stupid process, the fact that we have to do this. But we have to do it. We can also do stupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Trump and Juncker said they have agreed to work toward \u201czero tariffs\u201d and \u201czero subsidies\u201d on non-automotive goods.<\/p>\n

Trump told reporters it was a \u201cvery big day for free and fair trade\u201d and later tweeted a photo of himself and Juncker in an embrace, with Juncker kissing his cheek.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously the European Union, as represented by ?JunckerEU and the United States, as represented by yours truly, love each other!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

The president campaigned on a vow to get tough on trading partners he accuses of taking advantage of bad trade deals to run up huge trade surpluses with the U.S.<\/p>\n

He has slapped taxes on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security. The U.S. and EU are now working to resolve their differences over steel and aluminum \u2014 but the tariffs are still in place. And they would continue to hit U.S. trading partners like Canada, Mexico and Japan even if the U.S. and the EU cut a deal.<\/p>\n

Whatever progress was achieved Wednesday could provide some relieffor U.S. automakers. The escalating trade war and tariffs on steel and aluminum had put pressure on auto company earnings. General Motors had slashed its outlook, and shares of Ford Motor Co. and auto parts companies had fallen.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest exposure, our biggest unmitigated exposure, is really steel and aluminum when you look at all of the commodities,\u201d GM CEO Mary Barra said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Trump has also imposed tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports \u2014 a figure he has threatened to raise to $500 billion \u2014 in a dispute over Beijing’s aggressive drive to supplant U.S. technological dominance.<\/p>\n

China has counterpunched with tariffs on American products, including soybeans and pork \u2014 a shot at Trump supporters in the U.S. heartland.<\/p>\n

The EU is stepping in to ease some of U.S. farmers’ pain. Juncker said the EU \u201ccan import more soybeans from the U.S., and it will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Lovely, a Syracuse University economist who studies trade, said, \u201cThe Chinese are not going to be buying our soybeans, so almost by musical chairs our soybeans are going to Europe.\u201d The trouble is, China last year imported $12.3 billion in U.S. soybeans, the EU just $1.6 billion.<\/p>\n

Trump’s announcement stunned lawmakers who arrived at the White House ready to unload concerns over the administration’s trade policies only to be quickly ushered into Rose Garden for what the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee called \u201cquite a startling\u201d development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think everybody sort of changed what they were going to say,\u201d said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers said they still needed to see details of the agreement with the EU as well as progress on the other deals. But they said the breakthrough announcement was a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have more confidence in him now than we did before,\u201d said Rep. Mike Conaway, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.<\/p>\n

The White House announcement came as the Trump administration announced a final rule aimed at speeding up approval of applications for small-scale exports of liquefied natural gas. The Trump administration has made LNG exports a priority, arguing that they help the economy and enhance geopolitical stability in countries that purchase U.S. gas.<\/p>\n

Juncker said the two sides also agreed to work together to reform the World Trade Organization, which Trump has vehemently criticized as being unfair to the U.S.<\/p>\n

The biggest news from the Trump-Juncker meeting is that it appears to have delayed an impending trade war over autos. Trump had threatened to tax imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totalled $335 billion.<\/p>\n

The European Union had warned that it would retaliate with tariffs on products worth $20 billion if Trump put duties on cars and auto parts from Europe.<\/p>\n

But the auto trade war with Europe is on hold while the U.S. and EU engage in further trade talks. Daniel Ikenson, director of trade studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, warned that the fight could flare up again if Trump grows impatient with Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cAuto tariffs are looming unless the EU buys more U.S. stuff and does other things Trump demands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump and European leaders pulled back from the brink of a trade war over autos Wednesday …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":171402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24157,16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-173283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-american-news","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-ken-thomas-and-paul-wiseman","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}