U.S. President Donald Trump said late on April 7 that the European Union would need to buy $350 billion worth of American energy to secure relief from tariffs.
Trump was responding to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said earlier on Monday during a news conference in Brussels that the EU was ready to negotiate a “zero-for-zero” tariff pact on industrial goods.
Asked by a reporter at the White House whether the offer was enough for him to back down on 20 percent duties on imports, Trump said: “No, it’s not.”
“The European Union’s been really tough over the years. We have a [trade] deficit with the European Union of $350 billion and it’s going to disappear fast,” Trump said. “And one of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re going to have to buy our energy from us … They can buy it, we can knock off $350 billion in one week.”
On April 2, Trump announced a minimum 10 percent tariff on all trading partners, as well as higher levies on about 60 nations identified by the administration as “worst offenders” in trade imbalances with the United States. China topped the list.
The 27-nation EU bloc is currently facing 25 percent import tariffs on steel, aluminum, and cars, with tariffs of 20 percent due to kick in from April 9 for almost all other goods under Trump’s new policy of responding in kind to countries that he says impose high barriers to U.S. imports.
Hellbound and Down 