Trump Suggests Cutting All Tariffs Ahead of Key Meeting With EU

While the United States claims the retaliation is “illegal”, the Trump administration has acknowledged it is doing damage to American farmers, and on announced it will provide up to $12 billion in aid to farmers hurt by trade tariffs. And he’s doing it despite his advisors honking their horns and waving their arms as Trump gets closer toward driving the USA economy over a cliff.

Highlighting the complexity of Wednesday’s talks, hours before Trump called for the elimination of all tariffs, he had tweeted that “tariffs are the greatest”.

Some Republicans in farm states quickly dismissed the plan, declaring that farmers want markets for their crops, not payoffs for lost sales and lower prices. “While there is plenty of disagreement, nobody, be they farmer, rancher, fiscal conservative, wants the federal government to replace trade with aid”.

Trump, who enjoyed 88 per cent support from Republicans in a recent poll, brushed back his congressional critics online.

The EU would increase purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States, President Trump said, making them a “massive buyer”.

He also and questioned if the government is going to continue to let “our farmers and country get ripped off”. The EU has a huge stake in the US industry, where European companies produce nearly 3 million cars a year, accounting for over a quarter of production in the United States.

On Twitter, Trump said people “snipping at your heels during a negotiation” will only delay the process. “Negotiations are going really well, be cool”. The end result will be worth it!’ “The programs we are announcing today help ensure our nation’s agriculture continues to feed the world and innovate to meet the demand”. China, a huge market for USA agricultural exports, has applied tariffs on $34 billion worth of US goods, including soybeans and pork.

The second is the Food Purchase and Distribution Program, which will buy surplus fruit, nuts, beef, pork and milk to distribute to USA food banks and nutrition programs.

“This is an occasion to de-dramatise any potential tensions around trade and engage in an open and constructive dialogue”, Juncker’s spokesman said on Monday.

Trump is leveraging tariffs to negotiate better trade deals with China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union.

‘Tariffs are taxes that punish American consumers and producers, ‘ Kentucky GOP Sen. Trump promptly ordered a review of an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods to target for import duties. “I have an idea for them”, Trump said in a Tuesday night tweet. “We were being nice – until now!” “So, the tariff policies that have been put in place by the administration are now causing them to invoke a welfare policy for our farmers, which I’m sure is not what they wish”, Corker said.

But more voices including in Trump’s own Republican Party are coming out against his confrontational stance.

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President Trump welcomed European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to the White House on Wednesday for what are likely to be tense discussions over trade and tariffs, with Trump saying the U.S.is seeking a “level playing field” on trade with the European Union.

“We are confronting unfair trade deals and we are doing it like nobody has ever done, because our workers have been cheated and our companies have been cheated”, Trump told a veterans group in Kansas. But, they are expecting us to offset the cost of the (50 percent) tariff. The president again suggested the two sides could one day have no tariffs or barriers or subsidies on their products.