During a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels, the President of the United States Donald trump is actively complained about the trade surplus of Germany. “The Germans are bad, very bad,” said trump. About that Der Spiegel has learned from the participants.
“Look at the millions of cars they sell in the US. Awful. We can stop this,” continued trump, according to reports.
At the meeting the head of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Juncker sided with the Germans and objected to Trump. Free trade benefits all, said the President of the Commission. Juncker tried to say this in a friendly tone, but remained steadfast in this issue, said the participants.
During the meeting, trump initially met with the President of the European Council Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, after about 45 minutes they were joined by other participants in the talks, in particular, the Chairman of the Parliament Antonio Tajani and the chief EU diplomat Federica Mogherini.
According to reports in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the EU leaders were shocked by how little Americans know about trade policy. Apparently, guests don’t understand that EU countries sign trade agreements only together. Therefore, the Advisor to trump on economy, Gary Cohn in the conversation said that the customs tariffs of the US and Germany differ from the tariffs the U.S. and Belgium.
For many years German exports exceed imports. Previously, trump has raised the issue of surplus in Germany, even before his inauguration, the President expressed his criticism in an interview with the newspaper Bild. Even then, he was particularly concerned about German cars on the streets of new York. “I would have said BMW, if they will build a plant in Mexico and want to sell cars in the US without tax is 35%, then they can forget about it,” said trump. Since then, the threat of penalty taxes.
The new U.S. President considers the German surplus is unfair, because it corresponds to the trade deficit in other countries, at the same time, he primarily thinks about the United States. Because of the surplus of the trade balance, the German government is under pressure within the EU. Recently Finance Minister Wolfgang schäuble (CDU) in an interview with Der Spiegel also said the surplus is too large.
In fact, the EU believed that, after numerous meetings of European heads of state with trump and attempts to explain international trade policies, it is now possible to move on. But apparently, the Europeans can forget about it.
