President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker have signed an agreement to resume negotiations to reduce transatlantic trade conflicts and work to eliminate customs and trade barriers between the EU and the US.
At the same time, the EU will increase imports of LNG gas from the United States and American soybeans. The last one will be a welcome news for US soybean farmers who have experienced price drops on their goods after China has imposed a penalty on soybeans in response to US penalties.
On the other hand, Trump has promised to reconsider US planned steel and aluminum tariffs imported from the EU. Trump now supports the idea that the United States and the EU work together to reform the World Trade Organization, WTO.
"Today we have largely agreed to work for zero duty, for the elimination of trade barriers and no support for industrial goods outside the automotive industry," said a clearly pleased Trump at a press conference in the White House garden.
"We have begun a new deeper phase of friendship between the United States and the European Union, focusing on strong trade relations, where we both appear as a winner," he continued.
The news comes after Trump for months had threatened to escalate the trade war and impose Europe's exports of different goods to the United States with penalties up to 25 percent. This has, in turn, led the EU Commission to start preparing countermeasures.
"We start the negotiations right away, but we know what direction it's going to be," said Trump.
The agreement comes only a few weeks after Trump called the EU for an enemy because he believed that the United States was treated unfairly in trade.
- The United States and Europe are close partners and allies, not enemies. We have to work together. Together, we represent half of the world trade. So I think we should talk to each other. Not to each other. And that's what we did today, Juncker said.
The news has triggered a positive response on the US stock market.
