Donald Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker announce a breakthrough in the trade dispute

If volume is an indicator, it is clear who dominated the White House meeting: The voice of US President Donald Trump, sitting on the front of the chair, rings loud Wednesday and clearly through the Oval Office .

The words of the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker, who is lying in the chair, pbad under the click of the cameras. Then the journalists have to go out, the negotiations begin and the unexpected happens: Juncker and Trump make a breakthrough.

Suddenly the last escalated trade conflict seems settled. There is no mention of additional US duties on European car imports and EU retaliatory threats. For the unlikely reasons of such a development, the original plans of the meeting showed.

According to them, the talks at 13.40 pm (local time / 19.30 CEST) begin, 50 minutes later, then again the departure of Juncker and his Team Ensemble A joint press conference was not on the agenda – even if there is nothing to announce. Both parties had previously been iron.

Juncker told ZDF before his trip: "We are not sitting here, in that sense we do not need to defend ourselves either." Trump said in his usual style, "This that the EU makes us is incredible.It is wrong. "

On Wednesday, everything will be different. During the discussions, it is suddenly said that Trump and Juncker would now come to the press. At 4:20 pm, almost two hours after Juncker's scheduled departure time, both seem visibly happy in the White House Rose Garden.

Trump, who recently called the EU's "adversary" in commercial matters, suddenly speaks of a new phase of friendship, solid trade relations in which we will all win both. "Later, he will even post a photo on Twitter showing how Juncker makes him a big kiss on the cheek

The two parties agree, among other things, to negotiate the abolition of tariffs, trade restrictions and subsidies for manufactured products. Juncker says that there will be no new sanctions during ongoing discussions. It refers to the threat of US Trump tariffs on cars that would have hit especially the German automaker. Trump says that they will solve the problem of US imposed steel and aluminum tariffs as well as EU retaliatory tariffs.

C is a great achievement for Juncker. Previous term Luxembourger has recently been under considerable pressure. Even the calls for resignation had become noisy after a video showing that he was hesitant for several minutes at the NATO summit and backed by several heads of state and government.

The chief of the commission has managed to avoid a threat of trade war. However, success is even greater for Trump: he has obviously prevailed with his tactics to force trading partners to exert increasing pressure on concessions. Before the meeting, he was laughed at, after his threat of the duties of the car, the Europeans had immediately asked for talks. "You said, when can we come? According to what we know, the EU will not get substantial compensation from the United States after the war. Wednesday 's agreement – except the prospect that higher car rates will be absent for the time being and will be checked for steel and aluminum, Both taxes had already qualified for the EU the WTO, the EU, on the other hand, says that it intends to To import more liquefied gas from the United States – putting Trump in competition with its North Stream 2 highly criticized gas pipeline, that Germany is advancing with Russia.

Trump also said: The Union The EU will start buying soy almost immediately, "especially by Midwestern farmers, who are important supporters of Trump. How the EU wants to do that is not clear. But it is clear that Trump is under increasing pressure because of soybeans, mainly used for animal feed: Trump broke a barrier not only with the EU, but also with important countries like China, first global importer of soybeans. "Soy is a big problem," Trump said Wednesday. "Thank you for that, Jean-Claude."

It was not until Tuesday that Trump announced: "Trade will be the biggest beneficiary in terms of trade disputes." The same day, he writes on Twitter: "Customs are the biggest!" At the same time, his government had to announce $ 12 billion in emergency badistance for the agricultural sector because of the $ 30,000 in cash. escalation of commercial conflicts.

Trump himself was harshly criticized by his own Republican party. "This trade war is cutting our farmers, and the White House plan is to spend $ 12 billion on golden crutches," said Senator Ben Sbade. His colleague Ron Johnson even spoke of a "Soviet-style economy." And the Trump Free Farmers' Association advised Trump: "The best relief in the President's trade war would be to end the trade war."

After his success in the EU negotiations, Trump should not break with such reminders impress. On Tuesday, he had asked his compatriots to be patient on the various trading fronts. "We have to hold on," he said. On Wednesday, he wrote on Twitter: "These countries have been tearing us away for decades." He fiercely added, "No weakness!"