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The European Union’s top trade official is trying to head off a trans-Atlantic trade war with offers of cooperation, as the White House weighs whether to impose new tariffs.
Hanging over Phil Hogan’s first U.S. visit since taking office last month is a widening European trade surplus and threats from President Donald Trump, who says the EU is “taking advantage” of the U.S. and is worse than China on trade issues. Hogan hasn’t signaled any new approach from his predecessor to resolve the impasse, despite resurgent commercial tensions.
“We have a challenging relationship with the U.S.,” Hogan said ahead of his visit, who met with U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Lighthizer on Tuesday and will also talk with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and members of Congress.
Washington is threatening to slap levies on $2.4 billion of French goods over a digital tax that Paris adopted and the Trump administration says unfairly targets U.S. firms. The U.S. has cleared its procedural hurdles to act as soon as Wednesday but has signaled it will hold off as Paris and Washington try to resolve the issue by next week when they meet on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.
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