Juncker and Trump defuse the trade war

Washington / Brussels. The meeting of Donald Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker Wednesday at the White House brought together two politicians who could hardly be more different. The owner, a roaring self-advocate, who has declared the European Union via Twitter "enemy" of his country and can not convince himself of the facts that the EU is the most important partner of the United States and a prosperous understanding in the mutual interest. The guest, in turn, a physically exhausted consensual politician who does not care about social media, uses an old cell phone, traps his trading partners with sometimes eccentric charm, and knows by deep historical awareness the consensus and mutual indulgence for peacekeeping And for the time being, Juncker should have succeeded in deterring Trump from imposing a 25% penalty on European cars, which would have struck first l & # 39; Germany. Cars said the two after their meeting in a brief joint opinion not at all. Rather, they wanted to look closely at US tariffs on steel and aluminum, facilitate transatlantic trade in pharmaceuticals and industrial products, and develop reform plans for the United Nations. World Trade Organization (WTO). "We met here at the White House to begin a new phase in relations between the United States and the European Union – a period of close friendship, of solid trade relations, in which we will all win both."

Washington was hailed in Germany for hitting US car rates. "Customs, not in place! Free trade and millions of jobs insured!", Wrote the German Minister of Economy Peter Altmaier on Twitter. Juncker and Trade Commissioner Cecila Malmström had negotiated "great". The basic settlement also led the Wall Street in the evening, the main stock indexes closed in part well in the most. The Nasdaq 100 and Nasdaq Composite technology selection indices have even reached record levels

"Soy is a big problem"

Economically trivial, but for domestic Trump, but especially the sugar that Juncker served him in agriculture namely, an increase in soybean imports into Europe. "Soy is a big problem – the EU will immediately start buying a lot of soybeans from our Midwestern farmers – thank you for that, Jean-Claude," said Trump in the presence of several congressmen and governors of his company. In November, a third of US senators and the entire House of Representatives will be re-elected.The Republicans, who currently control both houses of Congress, fear a bitter loss. The government's announcement in Beijing that it would import less US soy in response to Trump's punitive tariffs against China would strike one of Trump's political powers – the rural Midwest.

Juncker cleverly negotiated the escalation of the trade war with the US is avoided for the moment.But for how long? Because at eye level, Europeans and Americans have not met for some time.The election of Trump as president has seriously damaged the image of the United States in Europe. Take the example of the mood in Europe, the opinion in Germany: According to the current "Global Attitudes Survey" of the US Pew Research Institute, only 11% of Germans find that the American president behaves correctly in world politics. A year earlier, 86% of Germans trusted Barack Obama's foreign policy. Only 35% of Germans say they have a good opinion of America since Trump's entry to the White House. A year earlier, it was 57%.

Alienation began in 2003

But transatlantic alienation began under Trump's predecessors. In 2003, George W. Bush, with his fatal decision to attack Iraq against the will of his traditional partners, Germany and France, encouraged anti-Americanism. Barack Obama has been acclaimed in Europe. But it soon became clear that he was not interested in deepening his relationship with the Union because of his lack of personal attachment.

Obama's leitmotif was the strategic turning point of Asia. Are partners He had already broken porcelain. Only lukewarm he apologized after the revelation that the NSA's US intelligence also routinely monitors Europeans. In France, he is fiercely accused of having defended his self-taught "red lines" in the Syrian war, not militarily, said French political scientist Olivier Roy in the magazine "L & # 39; Obs". And the public phone call from top US diplomat Victoria Nuland, then head of Europe, who in 2014 amidst the Ukrainian crisis, said contemptuously: "Fuck the EU."

(Die Presse, print edition, 26.07. 2018)