Trump speaks with Juncker on trade negotiations
By REBECCA MORIN 07/27/2018 02:46 PM EDT Updated 07/27/2018 03:05 PM EDT
President Donald Trump Friday spoke with the president of the European Commission just several days after the two agreed to halt new tariffs and negotiate trade practices in an attempt to avoid a trade war.
President Trump spoke with EU President [Jean-Claude] Junker today," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote in a statement, according to a pool report. The two leaders continued to build on their previous discussion on renewed U.S.-EU trade cooperation.
Junckers last name was initially misspelled in the first statement, but was later corrected in a follow-up statement.
The call comes two days after the United States agreed to halt plans to impose new tariffs against the European Union, in addition to working to eliminate tariffs on all non-auto industrial goods, increase cooperation on energy purchases and work together to reform the World Trade Organization.
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Separately, Juncker gave an interview on Friday to the German broadcaster ARD in which he was asked to explain the photo showing him kissing Trump on the cheek. Juncker, in an unexpected reply, said that it was Trump who initiated the kiss.
"In contrast to my usual behavior, the initiative surprisingly did not come from me," Juncker said in the interview. "I also did not know that a photographer was in the Oval Office. But it actually summed up the ambience of the moment well. Mr. Trump has published the picture, not me. "
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/27/trump-jean-claude-juncker-call-745227