Donald Trump’s administration is growing increasingly frustrated over trade with the European Union, as talks are set to continue next week. Jamieson Greer, the US trade representative, has warned the bloc that trade remains a “flashpoint”, as other officals claim they are “slow” to cut tariffs. Mr Trump’s top negotiator said that the EU’s levies on American exports are still extremely high after the deal that the US President struck with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen earlier this year.
“Trade has always been a flashpoint,” Mr Greer told the Financial Times. They have many regulations and non-tariff barriers that block our exports and reduce our effective market access over there, while we historically have had very broad access for them… It’s quite unbalanced.” He added that the US and the EU “did not solve every problem” during talks in the summer.
Following the deal, the Trump administration has concern over the slow enactment of the agreement, which includes slashing export taxes to the US.
One senior official said: “They’re being kind of slow right now on all of this, which is unfortunate.”
The insider added that the bloc is now in a danger zone of fracturing their relationship with the US.
They said: “I think that we’re in a moment where the president has changed his views on Europe and approach to Europe in the past six months… I hope that Europe doesn’t miss its opportunity to capitalise on the president’s current approach.”
Mr Greer is set to visit Europe on November 19 for four days where he will push for swift progress from the EU. He will meet with Maroš Šefčovič, the EU commissioner for trade.
Under the agreement in July, the bloc promised to decrease its levies on US industrial goods, seafood, pork and some agricultural goods.
However, these have not yet been implemented as they await approval by the European parliament, and according to officials in the EU, approval is not likely until February.
On the other hand, the US has lowered its tariffs on most goods including European cars to 15%, although it has not yet reduced levies on metals, which stand at 50%.