President Donald Trump said that the U.S. and the European Union should eliminate all tariffs, barriers and subsidies, with the bloc’s trade chiefs set to present him with proposals in that direction in a crunch meeting at the White House later today, Bloomberg reported. “I have an idea for them. Both the U.S. and the E.U. drop all Tariffs, Barriers and Subsidies!” Trump said in a tweet. “That would finally be called Free Market and Fair Trade! Hope they do it, we are ready - but they won’t!” European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom are due to meet with President Trump in Washington on Wednesday. They plan to signal the bloc’s willingness to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. on manufactured goods, or a so-called plurilateral sectoral agreement between all major car exporters that would cut or eliminate tariffs on automobiles globally. The overtures are a last-ditch attempt to dissuade him from imposing tariffs on European car exports to the U.S. in what could deal a serious blow to the 28-nation bloc’s economy. The Stoxx 600 Automobiles & Parts Index fell by 1.4 percent at 1:03 p.m. in Brussels ahead of the meeting. “We are here to explain and find out how to prevent a trade war,” Juncker said, adding that he’s not overly optimistic. The EU is prepared to retaliate “immediately” if talks fail, he warned. The commission is preparing a list of retaliatory measures on American goods worth $20 billion should the U.S. impose car tariffs, Malmstrom said. “It would be more general, like farming goods, machines, high-technology products and others,” she said.
