European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström met U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer over the weekend to seek clarity on the steel and aluminum tariffs of the US. However, Malmström expressed her frustrations afterwards complaining that the meeting delivered “no immediate clarity”. She tweeted “As a close security and trade partner of the U.S., the EU must be excluded from the announced measures. No immediate clarity on the exact U.S. procedure for exemption however, so discussions will continue next week.”
German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries also warned that “Trump’s policies are putting the order of a free global economy at risk.” And, “he does not want to understand its architecture, which is based on a rule-based system of open markets. Anyone, who is questioning this, is jeopardizing prosperity, growth and employment.”
However, Trump stepped up his rhetoric again as he tweeted “the European Union, wonderful countries who treat the U.S. very badly on trade, are complaining about the tariffs on Steel & Aluminum.” He added “if they drop their horrific barriers and tariffs on U.S. products going in, we will likewise drop ours. Big Deficit. If not, we Tax Cars etc. FAIR!”
