(Repetition of the weekend)
Rome (dpa-AFX)-US President Donald Trump is ready for a meeting with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In a brief exchange on the edge of the funeral service for Pope Francis, Leyen and President Trump agreed to meet, a spokeswoman for Leyens said in the early afternoon.
At first there was no information on a possible date or a possible location of the meeting. The meeting would be the first EU USA meeting at the top level since Trump took office in January.
The EU has been trying to talk to the new US president for weeks. Relations between the United States and the EU have deteriorated extremely since Trump took office. The reason for this is, among other things, the Republicans’ attempts to move Ukraine far -reaching concessions to end the Russian war of aggression.
Dispute over tariffs and Ukraine war
In addition, Trump has started a trade conflict with new tariffs on imports from the EU. The US President wants to correct alleged trade weights with the tariffs and shift production to the United States. At the same time, customs revenues should serve to at least partially counter its expensive election promise of large tax cuts. The EU, on the other hand, sees the tariff as not justified and incompatible with the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The EU therefore wants to try to persuade the United States to change course in negotiations. After great turbulence on the stock and financial markets, Trump had surprisingly decided to grant a break from certain tariffs for 90 days. This window is now to be used for negotiations. The EU emphasizes that it will introduce decisive measures against US tariffs if they fail. This should include against tariffs./AHA/DP/NAS