Trump demands EU pay up for trade talks, warns of tariff standoff
U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he will not engage in trade talks with Europe unless they agree to pay a substantial amount of money annually. He also declared that he will not consent to any tariff deal with China or the EU unless they address their trade surpluses with the United States.
Trump discussed the trade conflict he initiated during a briefing aboard Air Force One as he returned from Florida, where he spent the past three days playing golf. The president claimed that America's foreign trade partners are eager to negotiate with him, but he emphasized that this is only feasible if they agree to balance their trade exchanges with the U.S.
When asked about his advisor and billionaire Elon Musk's suggestion to establish a free trade zone without tariffs between the U.S. and Europe, Trump reiterated his dissatisfaction with the "terrible treatment" of America by the EU.
"The United States can’t lose $1.9 trillion on trade. We can’t do that and also spend a lot of money on NATO in order to protect European nations, we cover them with military and we lose money on trade. The whole thing is crazy, and I got elected on that basis," he said.
You know, the American people understand it a lot better than the media, but the media understands it, and much of the media writes correctly about it - added Trump.
Europe to pay for present and past
He noted that although European leaders "come to the table" and want to talk, "there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis—not just for the present, but also for the past." Trump did not clarify what he meant, but he suggested that it would be compensation for Europe "taking a lot of wealth from America."
He expressed similar sentiments about potential talks with China.
"We have a trillion-dollar trade deficit with China, hundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose with China. And unless we solve that problem, I’m not going to make a deal. I’m willing to deal with China, but they have to solve their surplus," Trump stated. "China is right now taking a big hit, because everyone knows we're (the US) right," he added.
The president confirmed reports that he was close to finalizing a deal with China for the acquisition of TikTok, but Beijing backed out after he announced new tariffs.
"If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they'd approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs," he assessed.
Stock market crash? "Sometimes you have to swallow the medicine"
When asked if he is deliberately trying to cause a stock market crash, Trump denied this claim, even though he had posted a TikTok video twice on his social media platform asserting he was intentionally seeking market declines to compel the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
"I don't want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something," he emphasized.
On Sunday, New York Stock Exchange futures trading suggested that Wall Street would open significantly lower again on Monday, following two consecutive days of record declines last week, when stock market companies lost $6.4 trillion in value.
During the briefing aboard the plane, Trump briefly discussed negotiations with Russia and the war in Ukraine. He merely stated that talks with Moscow are ongoing but emphasized that he "doesn't like the bombings."
