washington us president donald trump said on wednesday the united states and the european union were kicking off talks aimed at lowering trade barriers as officials looked to head off a brewing trade war this was a very big day for free and fair trade a very big day indeed trump told reporters at the white housetrump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on auto imports a move that would hit european carmakers as well as japanese and south korean car companies after meeting with european commission president jeanclaude juncker we are starting the negotiation right now but we know very much where its going trump said advt speaking with juncker at his side trump said they had agreed in talks to work together toward zero tariffs zero nontariff barriers and zero subsidies on nonauto industrial goodswe will also work to reduce barriers and increase trade in services chemicals pharmaceuticals medical products as well as soybeans soybeans is a big deal he said adding that europe would also step up purchases of liquefied natural gas from the united states they are going to be a massive buyer of lng trump said trump said the talks would resolve both the hefty tariffs the united states had placed on imports of steel and aluminum from the eu and the tariffs europe had slapped on us goods in response it was not clear whether the two sides made any progress on the contentious issue of possible us tariffs on imports of automobiles from europe but juncker said they had agreed not to impose any new tariffs while talks were taking place this was a good and constructive meeting juncker said trump has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on auto imports a move that would hit european carmakers like bmw and volkswagen hard as well as japanese and south korean car companies reuters published on jul 26 2018 at 1217 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etauto app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app tariffs trade barrier automobile steel european union donald trump volkswagen bmw homenewsindustrytrump says agreed with eu to work to lower trade barriers