Donald Trump believes he will reach a new trade deal with the European Union ahead of the presidential election in November, he told reporters in closing remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“We’re going to start negotiating,” he said, while repeating his familiar mantra that the United States has been treated “horribly unfairly” in past agreements.
“The US has been losing 150 billion or more over many years with the European Union,” he said. “They have trade barriers where you can’t trade, they have tariffs all over the place. They make it impossible. They are frankly more difficult to do business with than China — all you have to do is ask Boris.”
Trump mostly answered questions about his impeachment trial, which got underway at the US Senate on Tuesday night, dismissing it as a “total hoax.”
‘They have to do it’
He said he had met EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Davos and was confident of rapid progress on a deal.
“They have to do that,” he said. “I’m not saying it from strength or from weakness, I’m just saying they have to do it.”
Pressed on an exact date, he said: “I don’t have a timeline but maybe I do in my own mind. I have a date in my mind it’s a fairly quick date and if we’re unable to make a deal then we’ll do even better.”
The EU refused to negotiate with President Barack Obama or President George W Bush, Trump said. “Me, they’re talking to … and we’ll have a deal.”
The president told reporters he has a “tremendous relationship” with the World Trade Organisation and promised to “do something that I think will be very dramatic.”
Greta Thunberg ‘beat me out on TIME’
His comments came a day after he hit out at “prophets of doom” over climate change — including Greta Thunberg.
“She beat me out on TIME,” Trump said, referring to her being chosen as the magazine’s Person of the Year.
He said the teenager should aim her criticism at other continents. insisting: “Our environmental numbers are very good Our numbers on air are tremendous.”
He added: “We have a beautiful ocean called the Pacific Ocean where thousands and thousands of tons of garbage flows toward us and that’s put there by other countries so I think Greta has to start working on those other countries.”
