Trump demands billions from Europe to fix trade imbalance
US President Donald Trump announced that he will not engage in trade talks with Europe unless it pays him a substantial amount of money each year. He also declared that he would not agree to any tariff deal with China or the EU unless they addressed their trade surpluses with the US.
Trump addressed the trade war he initiated during a briefing aboard Air Force One while returning from Florida, where he spent the last three days playing golf. The president argued that America's foreign trade partners are eager to start negotiations with him. Still, he emphasised that this is only possible if they agree to balance their trade exchange with the US.
Asked about his advisor, billionaire Elon Musk's, statement that he would like to create a free trade zone without tariffs between the US and Europe, Trump once again expressed his grievances about the EU's "terrible treatment" of America.
- The United States can’t lose $1.9 trillion on trade. We can’t do that and also spend a lot of money on NATO in order to protect European nations, we cover them with military and we lose money on trade. The whole thing is crazy, and I got elected on that basis - he said.
You know, the American people understand it a lot better than the media, but the media understands it, and much of the media writes correctly about it - added Trump.
Europe to pay for present and past
He noted that although European leaders "come to the table" and want to talk, "there’s no talk unless they pay us a lot of money on a yearly basis—not just for the present, but also for the past". Trump did not explain what he meant but suggested that it would be compensation for Europe "taking a lot of wealth (from America)."
He spoke similarly regarding potential talks with China.
Trump stated, "We have a trillion-dollar trade deficit with China, hundreds of billions of dollars a year we lose with China. And unless we solve that problem, I’m not going to make a deal. I’m willing to deal with China, but they have to solve their surplus." He added that China is losing big because everyone knows he is right.
The president confirmed reports that he was close to striking a deal with China to take over TikTok, but Beijing withdrew after he announced new tariffs.
- If I gave a little cut in tariffs, they'd approve that deal in 15 minutes, which shows you the power of tariffs - he assessed.
Stock market crash? "Sometimes you have to swallow the medicine"
When asked if he was deliberately aiming to cause a stock market crash, Trump denied this hypothesis. However, he had posted a TikTok video twice on his social platform claiming he was purposefully seeking market declines to force the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates.
I don't want anything to go down, but sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something - he emphasised.
On Sunday, New York Stock Exchange futures trading indicated that Wall Street would reopen in the deep negative on Monday. This follows two record-breaking days of declines last week, when stock market companies lost £5.3 trillion in value.
During the briefing aboard the plane, Trump briefly addressed negotiations with Russia and the war in Ukraine. He simply stated that talks with Moscow are ongoing, but emphasised that he "doesn't like the bombings."
