Trump Rejects EU’s ‘Zero Tariffs’ Offer, Vows to Erase $350bn Trade Deficit With Energy Sale

[CharlieH]

 

"NOT GOOD ENOUGH" 

 

President Donald Trump dismissed the EU’s proposal for a “zero-for-zero” tariff deal on industrial goods, calling the bloc a trade monopoly “formed to damage the U.S.” and vowing to eliminate America’s $350bn deficit through energy exports.

 

Key Developments:

• Rejection: Trump called the EU’s offer insufficient, claiming the bloc imposes “designed” safety standards (e.g., bowling ball car tests) to block U.S. imports.

• Energy Leverage: “They’ll buy our energy—$350bn deficit vanishes in a week,” Trump said alongside Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

• EU Pushback: Brussels disputes the $350bn figure and prepares 25% retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel/aluminum, set for a Wednesday vote.

 

Why It Matters:
The collapse of negotiations risks escalating the transatlantic trade war, with EU officials warning of “extremely aggressive” countermeasures if talks fail. Trump’s focus on energy exports—a sector Europe has historically resisted—reflects a hardline strategy to rebalance trade through unilateral demands.

 

Trade War Timeline:

• February 2025: EU first proposes “zero-for-zero” deal for cars/industrial goods.

• April 7: Von der Leyen renews offer, warns of countermeasures.

• April 9: Trump’s 20% EU tariffs take effect; retaliatory duties begin April 15.

•  

Trump’s Grievances:

• Car Standards: Mocked EU safety tests as “rules designed so you can’t sell U.S. products.”

• Trade Deficit: Repeatedly cited $350bn gap (disputed by EU economists).

• EU Structure: Claimed bloc was “formed as a unified force against U.S. trade.”

 

What’s Next:

• April 10: EU finalizes first tariff tranche targeting $4bn in U.S. goods.

• Energy Gambit: U.S. pushes LNG exports to replace Russian gas, testing EU unity.

• Market Fallout: Global stocks remain volatile as tariff deadlines loom.

 

 

08.04.2025

 

[Eric Loh]

Trump team is in turmoil. Musk and Trump whisperer Navarro and Miller are divided on EU zero tariffs proposal. Let them fight. They are all bad faith actors with Trump at the top of that guano heap. 

[candide]

Hubristic mendacity..

[Mavideol]

3 hours ago, CharlieH said:

EU Pushback: Brussels disputes the $350bn figure and prepares 25% retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel/aluminum, set for a Wednesday vote.

sure the EU will dispute that amount as he has no proof of anything, the same BS he played with the USA giving 350 billion to Ukraine and so many more like that, he just throw out any number that comes into his small senile brain and when confronted with it he will claim that he was being sarcastic, what a jerk

[johng]

3 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Energy Leverage: “They’ll buy our energy—$350bn deficit vanishes in a week,” Trump said

Ha ha,are the Germans upset yet about the Nordstream pipeline being destroyed so they could not maintain cheap reliable Russian energy for their industry ?

[JonnyF]

Great to see the EU getting a taste of their own medicine.

 

What goes around comes around. 

[Eric Loh]

9 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Great to see the EU getting a taste of their own medicine.

 

What goes around comes around. 

How so? They are not paying the tariffs. 

[JonnyF]

12 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

How so? They are not paying the tariffs. 

 

You think American consumers are just going to keep buying EU products like German cars at these new inflated prices? 😄

 

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/04/germany-car-industry-faces-up-to-trump-tariffs

[sharot724]

This could not have turned out to be the worst possible senario Trump ever imagined.

sadness everywhere

 

wait till the unemployment skyrockets soon...

 

elections have consequences as always they do

looking for a job is tireless in itself

[pacovl46]

Riiiiiiiight. The EU will lower their safety requirements for cars so the US can sell more of their sh*ty quality cars here, which very few people want anyway because they’re fricking gas guzzlers! 
 

That guy needs to go! ASAP!

[newbee2022]

23 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

You think American consumers are just going to keep buying EU products like German cars at these new inflated prices? 😄

 

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/04/germany-car-industry-faces-up-to-trump-tariffs

Of course they will.

Who would like to buy an American car if you got the choice to buy a German one? None.

Because the US cars need a lot of parts from outside US, imported with high tariffs, means high prices.

But probably you will go back to more simple cars. 

And enjoy your iPhones. Price will go up to 2000 USD or more, because most parts are coming from China.

And without rare earths you will be degraded to pedestrians because no batteries available anymore, thanks to the wisdom of your POTUS.

But if you're lucky he will be kicked out of Whitehouse early.

[JonnyF]

8 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Of course they will.

 

I guess that's why Von Der Leyen has immediately offered a zero for zero deal?

 

The EU love removing tariffs on imports for no reason whatsoever. 😄

 

After their disgraceful behaviour during post Brexit trade negotiations it's delicious to see them squirm. 

[Patong2021]

1 hour ago, JonnyF said:

 

You think American consumers are just going to keep buying EU products like German cars at these new inflated prices? 😄

 

 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/apr/04/germany-car-industry-faces-up-to-trump-tariffs

Some will. However, the workd market will carry on. The USA will be pushed to the sidelines. Eu and Japan are looking to invest in Canadian energy not US. Canada is seen as a more stable reliable ally.

[simple1]

39 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

I guess that's why Von Der Leyen has immediately offered a zero for zero deal?

 

The EU love removing tariffs on imports for no reason whatsoever. 😄

 

After their disgraceful behaviour during post Brexit trade negotiations it's delicious to see them squirm. 

MAGA people really do need a reality check; refer below...

 

The European Commission says it charges an average tariff of just 1% on US products entering the EU market, "considering the actual trade in goods". It adds that the US administration collected approximately €7 billion of tariffs on EU products in 2023 compared to the EU's €3 billion on US goods.

[Wrwest]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

Great to see the EU getting a taste of their own medicine.

 

What goes around comes around. 

Richest country on the globe with trump declaring the USA has been ripped off. I agree, what goes around comes around I thus I have trepidation of what follows the trump/Project 2025 fiasco.

[MalcolmB]

America has a trade deficit with Europe because American consumers like buying European stuff. 

You would think that that would be a basic right.
 

That isn’t europes fault that Americans like their Europes stuff and if America produced better stuff I am sure the Europeans would buy it.

But it is mostly garbage like McDonald’s, KFC, poor quality GM cars, tasteless unhealthy food and other useless substandard crap.

 

Glad I am not American, being told by the government what I should buy.

 

Nobody bought Trump steaks, Trump vodka, wanted to fly on Trump airlines, wanted to gamble in Trump casinos, etc

It was their choice.

[Srikcir]

On 4/8/2025 at 2:46 PM, CharlieH said:

 U.S. pushes LNG exports to replace Russian gas, testing EU unity

Canada has already done that. Go Fish America.

 

[Purdey]

On 4/8/2025 at 2:46 PM, CharlieH said:

$350bn deficit vanishes in a week

Everyone write this in your diaries as an aide memoire.

[johng]

2 hours ago, sharot724 said:

looking for a job is tireless in itself

 

Sorry you lost your job  hope you find a new one soon.

[sharot724]

19 minutes ago, johng said:

 

Sorry you lost your job  hope you find a new one soon.

After that I retired in 2015

[Eric Loh]

On 4/8/2025 at 2:46 PM, CharlieH said:

President Donald Trump dismissed the EU’s proposal for a “zero-for-zero” tariff deal on industrial goods, calling the bloc a trade monopoly “formed to damage the U.S.” and vowing to eliminate America’s $350bn deficit through energy exports.

 

Hey Genius. $350bn energy export translate to 16 m barrels a day of gas. US current daily output is only around   13 m barrels a day. Industrial demand of energy is down because of your silly tariffs that have reduced industrial activities. 

[sharot724]

32 minutes ago, johng said:

 

Sorry you lost your job  hope you find a new one soon.

Direct your sorrow to these fine people

 

In the last two months, DOGE's actions have led to the announcement of around 280,253 planned layoffs across 27 federal agencies and contractors, pushing layoff announcements to their third-highest level ever. 

[johng]

1 minute ago, sharot724 said:

280,253 planned layoffs across 27 federal agencies and contractors

 

Yes but not for you as you are retired right....also I believe that a lot of those layoffs will come  with severance pay..and (controversial warning )

once the  manufacturing jobs come back  they can get a job  actually making things  instead of pushing bits of paper from desk to desk !!

[sharot724]

1 minute ago, johng said:

 

Yes but not for you as you are retired right....also I believe that a lot of those layoffs will come  with severance pay..and (controversial warning )

once the  manufacturing jobs come back  they can get a job  actually making things  instead of pushing bits of paper from desk to desk !!

Procurement will suffer and the loss of US purchasing power will not recover, never.

Factories take mature planning and execution and time.

[PuiPuiHarry]

His Never Lying, and Unendless Wisdom of the "grab-them-by-the-pussy"president of the USA finally shows the REAL reason for this increase of import duty of goods into the USA: to reduce the gigantic deficit, formed by the laziness and incapability of the US citizens to produce economically. Only by accepting the US$ in gigantic volumes by all other nations, a deficit of US$ 36Trillion was made possible.

But now he shows it as "you semi-monkeys, beg for better tariffs , so on your knees in front of the US Emperor for life".

[placeholder]

22 hours ago, johng said:

Ha ha,are the Germans upset yet about the Nordstream pipeline being destroyed so they could not maintain cheap reliable Russian energy for their industry ?

Have you forgotten that it was the Germans who shut them down?

[kimothai]

1 hour ago, Wrwest said:

Richest country on the globe with trump declaring the USA has been ripped off. I agree, what goes around comes around I thus I have trepidation of what follows the trump/Project 2025 fiasco.

Actually, Pelosi said it a long time ago (about 27 years ago).  It just took a great President like Trump to do something about it.

[johng]

3 minutes ago, placeholder said:

Have you forgotten that it was the Germans who shut them down?

Nope,  the question is who blew them up ???  and are the Germans (government) now regretting that they stayed silent  even though I believe they know who did it and why.

The pipeline was ready to open  just needed a pump sent from Germany which could not be sent due to sanctions ( I think) anyway before the explosions  it was rumoured that Germany  was going to lift the energy sanctions against Russia as their manufacturing industry was in desperate need of cheap energy...still is.

 

Or are you suggesting the Germans blew up the pipelines  ??  makes about as much sense as the Russians doing it I suppose.

[RayC]

2 hours ago, JonnyF said:

😄

After their disgraceful behaviour during post Brexit trade negotiations it's delicious to see them squirm. 

 

What disgraceful behaviour was that? Not allowing the UK the same benefits but none of the obligations and responsibilities of membership?

 

In any event, surely the EU's behaviour during the negotiations shouldn't have mattered: After all, the EU needed the UK more than the UK needed the EU😂

[sharot724]

Dow Loses Hundreds of Points in Minutes as Trump Advisor Proclaims Tariffs Will 'Force China to Come to the Table'

butt butt butt 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/dow-loses-hundreds-of-points-in-minutes-as-trump-advisor-proclaims-tariffs-will-force-china-to-come-to-the-table/ar-AA1Cy5Q0?ocid=EMMX