Yesterday at 19:54
The European Union will have to commit to buying $350 billion worth of American energy to get a reprieve from Donald Trump’s massive tariffs.
This was stated by the US President, Politico reports.
Trump’s comments were a response to a statement by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said earlier on Monday that the EU had offered to reduce EU tariffs to zero on cars and industrial goods imported from the United States if Trump reciprocated.
Asked by a journalist whether this offer was enough for him to agree to the relaxation, Trump replied: “No, it’s not enough.”
“We have a $350 billion deficit with the European Union, and it’s going to go away quickly,” Trump said.
“One of the ways it can go away easily and quickly is that they will have to buy our energy from us… They can buy it, we can dump $350 billion in one week. They have to buy and commit to buy the same amount of energy,” the US president said.
The idea of buying American energy to avoid tariffs is not new. Almost immediately after Trump’s re-election, von der Leyen proposed to start negotiations on buying more American liquefied natural gas. But the U.S. did not offer any clarity on how such a deal would work.
Later in the press conference, a reporter asked Trump if there were two or three countries on his list that he thought had moved further in terms of tariff reduction, and Trump named the EU: “The European Union. I mean, as bad as they’ve been treating us, they’ve reduced their tariffs on cars substantially. I think they’ve brought them down to 2.5, and I’ve heard maybe to zero.”
But he also noted that he would like to see the EU lower its standards to allow more American goods to enter its market, calling the security measures “non-monetary tariffs.”
Earlier, Trump said that the US would not negotiate with Europe to change tariffs unless it “pays a lot of money every year.”
