German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas launched a Twitter attack on US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying that "America is bigger than the White House".
"For me, the USA is not an opponent but rather our most important partner and ally outside the EU. America is bigger than the White House. Trump will not change that either," Heiko Maas posted. "He can tweet as much as he wants."
Für mich sind die USA kein Gegner, sondern unser wichtigster Partner und Verbündeter außerhalb der EU. Amerika ist größer als das Weiße Haus. Daran wird auch Trump nichts ändern, da kann er so viel twittern, wie er will.
— Heiko Maas (@HeikoMaas) July 25, 2018
This rebuke raised the heat ahead of Wednesday's summit at the White House, which is expected to see Donald Trump have tough talks on trade with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker.
Earlier in the day, Donald Trump called for the removal of all US-EU tariffs to provide for what he called "free trade" as he was gearing up for the summit.
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 meeting with Juncker will take place nearly a month after Brussels rolled out $3 billion (2.5 billion euros) in tariffs on imports from the US, including jeans, bourbon, motorcycles, orange juice, rice and corn. The move came in response to Washington's unilateral decision to hit European aluminum and steel with import tariffs in June, citing "national security concerns."
