Trump reportedly secures European Union trade concessions; United States markets jump

President Trump’s proposed tariffs on vehicle and truck imports are facing a wave of criticism, except from one key group: unions.

Juncker said the European Union already imports 35 per cent of its natural gas from U.S. producers, but will work to buy more.

Trump seems unmoved by his advisors.

A top German industry group gave a cautious welcome to solutions proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to avert a trade war, but warned that U.S. auto tariffs were not completely off the table yet.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin said “the bailouts, tweets, and bragging won’t save the lost crop value for our farmers and won’t protect their reputations around the world as reliable sellers”.

On Wednesday morning, President Trump tweeted that China is “vicious” on trade and said it’s targeting US farmers specifically because “they know I love & respect” them.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom, who will accompany Mr Juncker, expressed hope for a “de-escalation” of the tensions, but said the EU is drawing up a list of more U.S. products that could be hit with retaliatory duties if the trip fails.

The relief package is intended as a temporary boost to farmers as the United States and China negotiate over trade issues, officials said.

“We have identified a number of areas on which to work together”.

“Our president stood up to a bully, now he’s standing up for rural America”, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Mike Conaway (R-Texas) told The Washington Post.

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, another Republican who regularly challenges the White House, called the plan ‘awful’.

Many of them, from farm states, were also planning to relay messages from their constituents about how they would prefer markets be reopened than rely on additional government aid, as the White House had recently suggested with an offer of $12 billion for farmers affected by tariffs.

China is the largest buyer of US soybeans, importing about billion worth of the legume in 2016, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

Trump also went after China, who he accused of being “vicious” with its counter-tariffs.

A senior European official told Fox News ahead of the meeting between Juncker and Trump that the aim of the meeting was to build on a conversation the two had at a G7 summit in Canada last month and to work out what exactly the USA wants. He told reporters he entered Wednesday’s meeting with the intention of reaching an agreement with Trump. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president’s tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.

Trump did not elaborate in his tweets about what negotiations he was referring to. Every third row of soybeans in Iowa is exported.

Brussels already retaliated against the steel and aluminium tariffs, imposing punitive duties on over US$3 billion (S$4.09 billion) of United States goods, including blue jeans, bourbon and motorcycles, as well as orange juice, rice and corn.

“President Trump must find a way out of this mess so that Iowa’s farmers and manufacturers are no longer targets of this trade war.” .

The Market Facilitation program will distribute the bulk of the money to farmers and ranchers producing commodities directly impacted by the tariffs, including soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, and pork. “As long as the steel and aluminum tariffs are ongoing, the European Union will not negotiate on a high-level basis”.