US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen have agreed that the chances of signing their trade agreement are currently “50/50,” given their meeting in the Scottish town of Turnberry just days before the August 1 deadline set by the US president expires.
“We’ll know in an hour,” Trump said, accompanied by the President of the European Commission, in a brief joint press conference before sitting down to negotiate. The US president, as he has done for months, has insisted that the most important thing for him is to reach a “fair” agreement, understanding that his country is at a trade disadvantage.
In this sense, the US president does not contemplate that, even if an agreement is reached, the European Union’s trade tariffs will be less than 15%, something that the Brussels authorities had already expected. Likewise, the US president has advanced that pharmaceutical products would not be part of a trade framework because “we have to manufacture them in the United States.”
“There are three or four points of contention. I prefer not to go into them. We will discuss them. But I think the main stumbling block is justice,” he explained before stating that his country has gone through “very difficult times” with Europe in terms of trade. “And I would like to see them resolved,” he added.
“The United States has a deficit and we must rebalance it. We have an excellent trade relationship. It’s a huge volume of joint trade. So we have to make it more sustainable,” he indicated.
Von der Leyen, for her part, also agreed on the prospects for the agreement but highlighted the extraordinary importance of the agreement between the United States and the EU, “the two largest economies in the world.” “And if you look at our markets, it’s a huge market: 800 million people, including the United States and the European Union,” she added.
“I’m very much looking forward to starting these talks. Our staff has already done some of the heavy lifting, but now it’s our turn. You (Trump) are known for your negotiating toughness and your ability to reach agreements. If we’re successful, it would be the largest trade deal we’ve ever closed,” she added.
