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U.S. President Donald J. Trump told CNBC Wednesday that the European Union keeps “no choice” but to make a new trade agreement with the United States.
The pair had a “great talk,” President Trump told CNBC’s Joe Kernen after meeting with European Commission’s President Ursula von der Leyen at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Given ongoing trade negotiations, Trump has warned of new tariffs on European cars in a bid to strong-arm E.U. leaders.
Mr Trump, in yesterday’s meeting, claimed to have told the E.U. President that in the absence of a trade agreement, he would need to “take action” in terms of “very high tariffs on their cars and other things.”
According to the U.S. President, Europe has been “very tough to deal with and had “taken advantage” of the United States. He suggested that the bloc has “no other choice” but to sign a deal.
“We’ve had a remarkable deficit for many, many years – more than $150 billion with Europe,” Trump said, adding that he would be “really surprised” if he did have to introduce new tariffs.
According to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the U.S. goods and services trade deficit with the European Union remained at $109 billion in 2018.
U.S. trade of goods and services to the European Union added approximately 2.6 million jobs in 2015, according to the latest available data from the Department of Commerce.
Juncker was ‘unacceptable’
Donald Trump, in 2018, had agreed with von der Leyen’s predecessor, Jean-Claude Juncker, to inaugurate negotiations on a new trade agreement to avoid placing tariffs.
The E.U. Commission has since settled on a new negotiating mandate to commence those trade talks, but the U.S. has yet to respond with a readiness to begin those talks.
“I wanted to wait until I finished with China; I didn’t want to go with Europe and China at the same time,” Trump told CNBC.
“And saying frankly, Jean-Claude was a friend of mine, but he was almost impossible to deal with. I wished to do Mexico and Canada first. Now they’re all done, and we’re moving to do Europe,” Mr Trump added.
The U.S. President also confirmed that negotiations regarding a potential trade deal are underway with the U.K. Primer Minister Boris Johnson at a time when the U.K. is set to leave the E.U. on January 31st.
“Boris and I are friends, and he wants to make a deal, and that’s okay with me. They want it, they need it, President Trump added to his talk with Joe Kernen.
Any trade deal between the U.S. and the United Kingdom could only be entered into practice after the transition period with the E.U., which is currently set to last until the end of 2020.