European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has said that the European Union will not support a comprehensive trade deal with the US that includes agriculture, after meeting with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, according to a Reuters report. The meeting failed to result in any breakthrough.
Malmstrom said that the EU is aiming for a narrower deal focusing on industrial goods and automobiles. “If we start with industrial goods, which is much less complicated, and which will be beneficial from both sides, we maybe can rebuild that trust and then maybe we’ll see later,” she stated, as quoted by Reuters.
Meanwhile, according to Bloomberg, Malmstrom urged President Donald Trump to stop imposing tariffs on the bloc if he wants the EU to cooperate on pressuring China. “We have a problem: China is dumping in the market, China is subsidizing their industry. This creates global distortions. We can agree on that. So what is the solution? Well, we think it is to cooperate on China. The solution to these problems is not imposing tariffs on the European Union. Why is that so hard to understand?” Malmstrom told Bloomberg.