US President Donald Trump criticized the European Union for not offering a favorable trade deal to Washington - just hours after his first official meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, reports "Reuters", quoted by News.bg.
"We are talking, but I still don't feel they are offering a fair deal", Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after leaving the G-7 summit in Canada early on Monday.
"They will either make a good deal or they will just pay whatever we say they have to pay," he said. He reiterated his long-held belief that the bloc was set up to "hurt the United States on trade".
The transatlantic partners are negotiating a deal to protect 1.7 trillion euros worth of transatlantic trade relations. If they miss a July 8 deadline, Trump's universal 10% tariff could jump to 50% - a level that would cripple EU exports. In addition, EU steel, aluminum and car exports are subject to 25% tariffs.
On Monday, Trump held his first bilateral meeting with von der Leyen, the EU's top official responsible for negotiating trade agreements on behalf of the bloc's 27 members, at a summit in the Canadian Rockies.
She and Trump had instructed their teams to "accelerate their work to get a good and fair deal. Let's get it done," she said in a social media post afterwards.
Earlier on Monday, the Commission dismissed media reports that the EU was prepared to accept the 10 percent US base tariff, as stipulated in the recent UK-US trade deal. Chief spokeswoman Paula Pinho denied the reports, saying they were "speculative and do not reflect the current state of discussions".
"Negotiations are ongoing and at this stage no agreement has been reached. The EU has objected to unjustified and illegal US tariffs from the very beginning," Pinho told Politico.