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Former European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has criticised his successor, Ursula von der Leyen, for not engaging personally to quickly stave off Donald Trump’s trade war.
“I think that the commission would have been better advised to try to have a meeting as early as possible, because it was foreseeable that he would come back to the [trade] issue,” Juncker told the Financial Times.
“There will be no deal without the active presence of the president of the commission,” he added, speaking in his Brussels office five floors below von der Leyen’s.
The US president this year reimposed tariffs on EU steel and aluminium that he had introduced in his first term and which Juncker was able to get suspended in 2018 by promising that the bloc would buy more US gas and soyabeans. Trump has also threatened to impose a 50 per cent levy on all EU imports if current trade talks with Brussels fail by July 9.
Juncker said he saw Trump at least seven times before sealing the deal in 2018.
By contrast, von der Leyen has not had a dedicated bilateral meeting to discuss the trade dispute, instead only briefly speaking to Trump on the sidelines of international events such as the funeral of Pope Francis in April or the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. She is participating in a G7 summit in Canada on Monday, which Trump is also attending, but officials in Brussels were unsure whether they would discuss trade on the sidelines.
Juncker acknowledged it was “more difficult” for von der Leyen as Trump’s hostility towards Europe is more pronounced and he makes fewer travels abroad compared with his first term. But delegating the talks to trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič was a mistake, Juncker said.
Trump “seems to me to be more or less the same”, the former Luxembourg premier said. But the US president was now saying in public what he was previously alleging behind closed doors, such as the accusation that the EU was set up to “screw” the US.
Juncker said commission officials had erred in their strategy, by promising to impose retaliatory tariffs on €26bn worth of US goods, including alcohol — which member states quickly rebelled against for fear of the US making good on its threat to place levies of 200 per cent on European wine and spirits. In the end the commission dropped US whiskey and other items from its list, which only targeted €21bn worth of US exports and whose implementation has also been suspended pending negotiations.
“I don’t know if this is a sign of weakness, but it is a sign of poor preparation because these particular sanctions could have been replaced by others having the same aim,” Juncker said.
By contrast, Juncker recalled he “had a list of states being governed by Republican governors and so I wanted to hit him where his colleagues in the US would not be happy. Put him in difficulty. And that succeeded.”
EU officials say they are working on a list of €95bn worth of US goods in case talks fail, though they admit it is also likely to be reduced by national lobbying.
Brussels has tried to copy Juncker’s successful offer to reduce the trade deficit by buying more US goods but that has not made much impression on the Trump administration this time.
While commission officials cannot buy commodities directly Juncker said “people here and elsewhere were in contact with the market players, telling them that they should make that effort, and they did”.
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Soy bean imports “increased by 418 per cent during the six months after the agreement”, he said.
Asked how to deal with Trump he said you should “respect him” and “talk to him in a polite way, not imitating the way he’s talking to you”.
However, leaders should stand up for their interests. “He respects you if you are not on your knees. I have the impression that there are European governments wanting to please him.”
Juncker recalled that Trump had called him a “brutal killer” and a “tough guy”. “You have to respect him because you need his respect.”
The US president has called von der Leyen “fantastic” after briefly meeting her in Rome at the papal funeral. But talks have stalled since and Trump has threatened to impose 50 per cent tariffs instead of 20 per cent, accusing Brussels of “slow walking” in the negotiations.
