US President Donald Trump said Monday the European Union’s proposal for an exemption from tariffs on industrial products, including cars, is not enough to account for the transatlantic trade deficit.

“The European Union has been very, very bad to us, they don’t take our cars, like Japan in that sense, they don’t take our agricultural product. They don’t take anything practically,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Last week, Trump announced a 20 percent tariff on European goods, in his all-out protectionist offensive, which is set to take effect April 9.

Trump’s comments came in response to the proposal announced Monday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, seeking a bilateral tariff exemption for cars and other industrial goods.

“We have proposed zero tariffs on industrial products… Europe is always ready to strike a good deal” with the United States, von der Leyen said during a press conference in Brussels.

But “we are also ready to respond with countermeasures and defend our interests” against Trump’s trade offensive, she warned.

In comments Monday, Trump added that the EU’s trade deficit would “disappear fast” if European countries moved to purchase American energy.

“They have to buy and commit to buy a like amount of energy (to this trade deficit),” Trump said.

Trump, who did not specify if such a purchase would mean the lifting of tariffs against the EU, said a deal would have to be worth $350 billion to cancel out the United States’ trade deficit with the EU.

But the US goods trade deficit with the EU was only $235.6 billion in 2024, according to the US Trade Representative office.

AFP