Emmanuel Macron is putting pressure on
Jean-Claude Juncker to reveal more information about his trade deal with US President
Donald Trump.
The French President urged caution over the crunch meeting as he ordered Mr Trump to make a gesture of goodwill over the “illegal tariff” he slapped on steel and aluminium.
Speaking during a joint press conference in Madrid with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, he said: “A good trade negotiation, as I have said before, can be only done on balanced and reciprocal basis and under no circumstances under threat.
“We have some questions that we will want to clarify in the coming days with our European partners.”
The two world leaders thrashed out a deal on Wednesday that may have put an end to the ongoing trade war between the US and the EU.
The US President had threatened to widen the trade war by slapping levies on cars made in the
European Union - a move which would have hit Germany’s economy particularly hard.
But following talks on Wednesday, the US President said the two sides had agreed to “resolve the steel and aluminium tariff issues”.
However, Mr Macron said Donald Trump must address his “illegal tariffs” before “concrete advances” are made on trade.
The French leader said: “This must come ahead of any concrete advances.”
Mr Trump also announced that Brussels had agreed to ease restrictions on American exports of liquefied natural gas and soybeans to Europe.
But Emmanuel Macron urged Jean-Claude Juncker to ensure he does not make concessions over EU agricultural.
He said European standards on food safety and environment must not be abandoned in talks.
Mr Macron added: “This is the principle at the heart of the European sovereignty I am calling for.”
After crunch talks with the European Commission President, Trump said both sides had agreed to “work together towards zero tariffs”.
On top of that, the EU sided with Mr Trump over the recent imposed tariffs on Chinese imports and agreed to cooperate with the US to end Beijing’s unfair trade practices.
Meanwhile, Mr Juncker also claimed victory, saying a pledge by the US to hold off on tariffs against cars built in the EU was a “major concession”.
The US and European Union have been embroiled in a trade war in the past couple of weeks which started after the American firebrand imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.