Trump Shuts Down EU Tariff Offer, Demands Bloc Buy More U.S. Energy to Avoid Trade War

U.S. President Donald Trump shot down the European Union’s offer of a zero-tariff trade relationship on some goods, demanding that the bloc do more to rectify the significant trading imbalance, such as purchasing more American-produced energy.

With markets putting pressure on politicians worldwide, leading Eurocrats came out on Monday, attempting to appease Washington with concessions. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that Brussels had relayed an offer of “zero-for-zero” tariffs on industrial goods, while trade envoy Maroš Šefčovič suggested a “boost in strategic areas” like semiconductors and minerals.

However, Brussels did not specifically address key Trump administration complaints about the unfair levies on U.S.-made cars sold into Europe and other trade barriers on American food.

Commenting on the EU’s proposal, President Trump told reporters in the White House on Monday that it was not good enough from his perspective.

“No, it’s not,” President Trump said of the EU offer, pointing to the large trade imbalance with the EU, which he claimed stands at around $350 billion. According to the United States Trade Representative agency, it stood at $235.6 billion last year.

“One of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re gonna have to buy our energy from us, because they need it, they are going to have to buy from us. They can buy it, we can knock off $350 billion in one week.”

“The EU has been very tough over the years. It was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade, that’s the reason it was formed. It was formed… to create a little bit of a monopoly situation, to create a unified force against the United States,” the president continued.

Mr Trump also pointed to European nations’ longstanding failures to pay their fair share into the American-led NATO military alliance until recent pressure from his administration forced major powers such as Germany to finally commit to meeting their spending requirements.

“So we’re paying them to guard them militarily and they’re screwing us on trade. That’s not a good combination,” he remarked.

Trump’s comments and suggestion that Europe increase its purchases of American-produced energy, likely in the form of natural gas, may point to a broader strategy from the White House.

Dating back to his first term in power, President Trump has long been critical of Europe for relying heavily on Russian energy, while expecting the United States to pay for their protection against the potential threat of Moscow. In 2018, he warned that countries like Germany would become “captive” to Vladimir Putin over their reliance on Russian energy.

Thus, by pressuring the EU to purchase more American gas, the White House could decrease the trade deficit while simultaneously ensuring that Europe does not once again prop up the Russian economy with money for energy should a peace deal be struck between Kyiv and Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

While Brussels has yet to comment on Trump’s proposal, the EU may be amenable to such a deal. Indeed, shortly after Trump secured a victory in the presidential elections, Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen made a similar suggestion that Europe increase purchases of U.S. liquid natural gas (LNG).

“We still get a lot of LNG via Russia from Russia, and why not replace it by American LNG, which is cheaper for us and brings down our energy prices,” she said in November.

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