On Monday 23 July, Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said that the visit of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, flanked by European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström, to US President Donald Trump and his administration in Washington on Wednesday 25 July aims at "maintaining the dialogue" and "taking the drama out of the situation".
"This is about a discussion. It is an opportunity to take the drama out of the situation and to engage in an open and constructive dialogue with our US partners. Juncker will defend the European argument: the EU defends just, free and fair trade throughout the world. We demonstrated this with the signature of a historic trade agreement with Japan", Schinas stated.
"We are going with the best intentions" in the hope of "de-escalation", Malmström said at the end of last week.
Juncker will be hosted at the White House at 1.30pm local time, before making a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies at 4.00pm. Malmström meanwhile is due to meet members of the US Congress and Senate.
The Commission particularly wants to convince Trump to give up a tariff hike on car imports, but is not going to the US to negotiate (see EUROPE 12066).
In the face of Trump's threats to hit EU car exports with 20% duties, the EU is working on a list of US products to tax in case of US customs duties on EU cars, Malmström confirmed last week.
Positive agenda versus vast trade agreement
According to the European approach, the objective is to explore the options for a de-escalation of tension, based on the four-point plan agreed by the European leaders on 17 May. This plan includes talks on tariff liberalisation for industrial products (including cars), as well as talks on opening up public procurement, on voluntary tariff regulation, on increased cooperation on energy and LNG, and on a reform of the WTO (see EUROPE 12022).
Discussions on this positive agenda to improve the international trade climate nevertheless remain conditional upon the removal of the US taxes on steel and aluminium imports that were imposed on European producers on 1 June.
On the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Buenos Aires on Sunday 22 July, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the US wanted a vast trade agreement with the EU that goes beyond tariff liberalisation on goods. "This has to be about dropping non tariff barriers and subsidies as well. This has to be a deal with its entirety", he said.
The EU and US negotiated a vast free trade agreement, TTIP, between 2013 and the end of 2016. The negotiations have been on ice since the end of 2016 and Trump's election, and the Europeans no longer consider the negotiations on the agenda (see EUROPE 12026).
"We refuse to negotiate with a gun at our head", France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on the sidelines of the G20 finance ministers' meeting in Buenos Aires, demanding that Trump give up the US customs duties on steel and aluminium, and stop his threats on cars.
"I call on the US to return to reason, to respect global rules, and to respect their allies. The law of the jungle will only lead to chaos. I have made it very clear that we do not want any escalation of the trade war. We are willing to find a way out of the current situation but it is up to the US to make the first step. It is the US who first raised tariffs. They have to be the first to make a step and come back to reason", Le Maire stated. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)