Trump called it a "big day" for "free and fair trade."
To avert a US-EU trade war, a European delegation spearheaded by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker agreed to buy more US agricultural products, bring tariffs on non-auto industrial goods to zero and increase purchases of US liquefied natural gas exports (LNG), an EU source told the Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
Trump confirmed the report in a speech at the Rose Garden outside the White House Wednesday afternoon.
The EU will "buy a lot of soybeans," the president said. He said the agreement to negotiate had made US-EU trade "fairer and more reciprocal — my favorite word — reciprocal."
Speaking alongside Trump, Juncker announced, "When I was invited… to the White House, I had one intention. It was to make a deal today. And we made a deal today."
Trump had previously hinted that he didn't believe the European delegation would be interested in making a deal, tweeting:
The European Union is coming to Washington tomorrow to negotiate a deal on Trade. I have an idea for them. Both the U.S. and the E.U. drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies! That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready — but they won’t!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2018
The trade partners said they agreed to work on reforming the World Trade Organization and find a resolution to metal tariffs imposed by Washington.
"We agreed today to work together toward zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods. We will also work to reduce barriers and increase trade in services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products, soybeans," the EU and US said in a joint statement.
