EU/TARIFFS/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “When European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker left for Washington to meet with President Donald Trump, his mission was to try to dissuade the American president from escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and EU. Then Mr. Trump started tweeting. ‘Tariffs are the greatest!’ Mr. Trump declared early Tuesday [7-24-18]. ‘Either a country which has treated the United States unfairly on Trade negotiates a fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs,’ the president tweeted. Mr. Trump’s message surfaced as Mr. Juncker was en route. The White House said the meeting will focus on ‘a wide range of priorities, including foreign and security policy, counterterrorism, energy security, and economic growth.’ And yet Mr. Trump’s tweets show that he remains focused on maintaining a tough negotiating stance on trade, and suggest that any effort by Mr. Juncker to deter him from further action will be a significant challenge…Mr. Trump had suggested the idea of a barrier-free, tariff-free trade zone at the conclusion of the Group of Seven meeting last month, a proposal broadly viewed by the other G-7 member states as unrealistic.”
–Vivian Salama and Valentina Pop, “European Commission President Set to Face Trump and His Tweets,” The Wall Street Journal, July 24, 2018 9:22 pm