European car exporters can heave a sigh of relief - at least for now - as U.S.-EU trade talks result in U.S. President Donald Trump's deciding not to raise tariffs on car imports from the EU.
Trump relaxes his tone on tariffs as he and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker promise each other to hold off levies as they both intend to work towards a “zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods," as mentioned by Trump. The talks included plans of expanding the American export market in the EU for goods such as U.S. liquefied natural gas and soybeans.
Earlier this year, Trump had threatened to increase tariff rate on European cars to 25% - from 2.5% - in order to protect America’s national security. But a few hours before Wednesday’s meeting, Trump expressed on Twitter that he was looking forward to “Free Market and Fair Trade” but that he was also skeptical about whether EU would want it too.
It remains to be seen to what extent the proposals/ agreements from Wednesday's meeting eventually reach fruition. But for the time being, the Juncker-Trump meet seems to have moved the needle quite a bit towards expectations of a 'trade peace' between the U.S. and the EU.