The European Union will have to commit to buying $350 billion of American energy to get a reprieve from Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the U.S. president said late Monday, dismissing Brussels’ offer of “zero-for-zero” tariffs on cars and industrial goods.
Trump’s comments at a White House press conference were in response to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen saying earlier Monday that the EU had offered to drop the bloc’s tariffs to zero on cars and industrial goods imported from the U.S. if Trump reciprocated.
Asked by a reporter whether the offer was enough for him to back down, Trump said: “No, it’s not.”
“We have a deficit with the European Union of $350 billion and it’s gonna disappear fast,” Trump said. “One of the ways that that can disappear easily and quickly is they’re gonna have to buy our energy from us. … They can buy it, we can knock off $350 billion in one week. They have to buy and commit to buy a like amount of energy.”
