The Financial Times reported that EU is considering negotiations with the world’s largest car exporters to prevent and all-out trade war. The talks would involve the US, South Korea and Japan, aiming at a so called “plurilateral agreement” to reduce tariffs to an agreed level for a specified set of products. In such setting, the deal could be struck without involving all of WTO member nations.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is believed to bring the proposal to the US for his meeting with Trump later in July. German Chancellor Angela Merkel also told the German parliament yesterday that Juncker will travel to the US and “submit proposals setting out what we can do.” Merkel urged that it’s worth trying to defuse this conflict, so that it doesn’t turn into a real war”. But she also emphasized that “we need two parties for that to happen.”
Separately, it’s also reported that Trump would agree to end the trade dispute on car if both EU and the US would drop all auto tariffs. German newspaper Handelsblatt reported that US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell had met with executives from Daimler, Volkswagen and BMW to brief the idea.
