"What the EU is doing is amazing" "DiePresse.com

This was a speech to veterans of the war, on which Donald Trump once again sworn his compatriots Tuesday for today 's meeting with European Commission President Jean – Claude. Juncker. And while Trump leaves no doubt that he sees the conflicts with Europe as a fight in which he wants to appear as the winner: "We have to hold on," Trump said. Because China, the EU and other important trading partners "ripped us off for decades". For 25 years, we would have tolerated "stupid trade agreements".

He sees Juncker's visit to the White House as an admission of the EU's weakness: "They all arrive. They do not want these rates. The US president added: "What the EU is doing to us is amazing, how much". And because they did not want to listen to it, he just said, "Okay, we'll pay your cars with duty."

Juncker, on the other hand , already announced that he did not want to be intimidated by Trump. Europe is not sitting on the dock. "So we do not have to defend ourselves," he said shortly before the meeting.

But there is a lot of climbing potential not only in the fares. Trump has a long list of issues at stake in Europe – and no inhibition on the mix of issues such as trade, energy policy or defense. As most of the time, it is one thing – the money:

1. The Customs Dispute

Trump sees a reason for the imbalance of trade in the higher tariffs of Europeans. This is true for cars: they are 2.5% in the US and 10% in the EU. With vans and trucks, however, it is the opposite: Brussels raises 14% and Washington 25%. However, according to the European Commission, the difference is relatively small: on average, European surcharges are 3%, on the American side 2.4%.

2. Surplus Export

Since taking office at the beginning of 2017, the US President regularly criticizes the EU countries that "scammed us in the trade". It is the chronic surplus of EU exports in merchandise trade with the United States a thorn in the flesh. In the first year of Trump's term rose to 120.8 billion euros. The main cause is Germany, strong in exports: with 66.4 billion euros in 2017, it accounted for more than half of the EU surplus.

3. Manipulation of the currency

At the end of last week, Trump opened a new barrel in the conflict with the Europeans. Like China, he accused them of "illegal currency manipulation". The background is the fall of the prices of the euro and the yuan against the US dollar. This benefits exporters from Europe and China as it reduces the price of their products in the global market and makes them more competitive in the face of American competition.

4. The controversy over computer companies

As useless for Juncker could prove the record fine of 4.3 billion euros, that Google got aufgebrummt by the guards from the EU competition last week. Trump reacted indignantly at the decision to the Android group's Android mobile operating system. "You really enjoyed the United States," he scolded on Twitter. "But not for long!" EU plans regarding a tax on big Internet companies are also greeted by a "strict" rejection in Washington.

5. Gas

At the NATO summit in mid-July, Trump also mobilized against the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project from Russia to the United States. # 39; Germany. He accused the Germans of paying billions to Russia for gas supply and then to be defended by the United States before Moscow. In Berlin and Brussels, it has long been suspected that Washington is also looking for a market for its growing deposits of shale gas. Due to the cost of shipping across the Atlantic, US gas is not yet competitive.

6. Sanctions Against Iran

With the withdrawal of the nuclear agreement with Iran in May, Trump also announced the reintroduction of economic sanctions against Tehran. The Europeans, on the other hand, are determined to respect the agreement and are looking for ways to get around US sanctions in Iranian affairs so that the Iranians stay on board. However, Washington has recently rejected the exceptions for German and other companies, particularly in the important oil sector.

7. NATO Contributions

Again, it is money: 22 of the 28 EU Member States are also NATO members and most of them, according to Trump, pay too little for the military alliance. "At least" two percent of economic output must spend every state of NATO from the point of view of the US president for defense. Only four European countries are managing this up to now. The criticism of economically strong Germany, which has only been 1.2% for years, is particularly severe.

(AFP / Red.)