European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said less is more when it comes to the delicate trans-Atlantic trade truce and U.S. President Donald Trump’s social-media habits.
Amid signs of fresh EU-U.S. commercial tensions, Juncker said Trump’s penchant for using Twitter to make surprise announcements risks putting a July 2018 cease-fire—halting threatened tariffs against European cars—a key stroke away from being broken.
The quip by Juncker, president of the European Union’s executive arm, comes at a sensitive time for trans-Atlantic ties.
Envoys from EU member states on Thursday will discuss giving the commission the go-ahead for talks with the U.S. to slash industrial tariffs. The negotiating mandate is a bid to show Trump progress in enacting the political accord he reached with Juncker nine months ago.
Separately, the Trump administration this week announced a plan to impose tariffs on $11 billion of European goods as a result of alleged subsidies to plane maker Airbus SE. The commission reacted by saying it was preparing similar action against American products in a tit-for-tat case at the World Trade Organization concerning aid to Boeing Co.