Trump lauds use of tariffs as negotiating tool before EC official's visit

Washington, July 24 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised the use of tariffs as a negotiating strategy, the day before European Commission (EC) President Jean-Claude Juncker was to visit the White House.
“Tariffs are the greatest! Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on Trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that,” Trump said in a Twitter post.
In another tweet the US President said: “Countries that have treated us unfairly on trade for years are all coming to Washington to negotiate.”
“This should have taken place many years ago but, as the saying goes, better late than never!” Trump added.
This praise of tariffs as a trade policy came this Monday after he repeated his threat, during a display of products at the Made in America event organized by the White House, to impose tariffs on automobiles imported from the European Union (EU), Efe reported.
At that expo, Trump seemed to associate his decision on the matter to the probable results of his meeting with Juncker, scheduled for Wednesday.
Trump has insisted in recent months that the EU agree with his demands and facilitate the access of American products to the European market, and has threatened to apply tariffs of up to 20 percent on European auto imports if no such trade concessions are forthcoming.
Washington has already imposed tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum from the EU as part of Trump’s aggressive protectionist agenda, a measure to which Brussels has responded with an increase in tariffs on a number of US goods.
–IANS<br>ahm/bg
Source: IANS