Trump, Juncker Take Surprise Cooler Heads Approach to Trade Brinkmanship

The surprise deal President Trump and EU President Jean-Claude Juncker announced today – to mutually resolve disputes over steel and aluminum tariffs and other industrial goods and to increase European imports of liquefied natural gas and soybeans – won praise from CEI Senior Fellow Iain Murray.

“Cooler heads appear to have prevailed in the war of trade brinkmanship between the US and EU. Agreements on enhanced access to the EU’s agricultural and energy markets and a move towards zero tariffs on industrial goods indicate that both sides made concessions today. However, this is far from the immediate reduction in all tariffs that the President requested this morning – this is the start of a process. It therefore remains to be seen whether this is the beginning of the end of the global trade war, or merely the end of the beginning.”

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