Foe or frenemy? Trump calls EU leader 'smart' after ripping Europe

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump praised European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as a "smart man" on Wednesday, ditching the cutting rhetoric he has used in the past to describe Europe as a "foe" that "clobbered" the U.S. on trade.

Though Trump held firm to U.S. tariffs slapped on European goods, the cordial tone of the joint appearance in the Oval Office represented a break from the feisty tenor the president has used – including a day earlier – leading up to the meeting with Juncker.

Putting his hand on Juncker's leg in a show of affection, Trump welcomed the European leader, calling him a "very smart man and a very tough man" and saying he "represents his people well and the countries well."

A day earlier, speaking to a VFW convention in Kansas City, Missouri, Trump described the Europeans as groveling to his threats of imposing tariffs on European autos.

"What the European Union is doing to us is incredible. How bad," Trump said on Tuesday.

"I said, 'You have to change.' They didn't want to change. I said, 'OK, good. We're going to tariff your cars,'" Trump said.

"They said, 'When can we show up? When can we be there? Would tomorrow be OK?'"

Juncker is the latest European official to travel to Washington with the goal of easing trans-Atlantic tensions and heading off a trade war with the United States. The meeting followed months of broadsides from the White House about European trade barriers, including an interview in which Trump referred to Europe as a "foe."

Little of that tension was on display in the Oval Office, where Trump praised Juncker and said he hoped "something very positive" would take place.

"Over the years the United States has been losing hundreds of billions of dollars and we just want it to be a level playing field," Trump said.

"I think we’re making tremendous strides," he said.

When you have people snipping at your heels during a negotiation, it will only take longer to make a deal, and the deal will never be as good as it could have been with unity. Negotiations are going really well, be cool. The end result will be worth it! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2018

The main tension underlying the meeting Wednesday was trade, and specifically U.S. tariffs imposed in May on European steel and aluminum. Trump has also threatened to impose duties on European cars imported into the United States.

Juncker, speaking in the Oval Office, stressed that "we are partners, allies – not enemies" and said it was important that leaders talk to each other "and not at each other."

Trump once again raised the idea of completely open trade between the U.S. and Europe, an idea that would require European nations to lower their own barriers on American-made goods.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday morning, Trump said it would take longer for the U.S. to make trade deals "when you have people snipping at your heels during a negotiation."

"Be cool," Trump wrote. "The end result will be worth it!"

China is targeting our farmers, who they know I love & respect, as a way of getting me to continue allowing them to take advantage of the U.S. They are being vicious in what will be their failed attempt. We were being nice - until now! China made $517 Billion on us last year. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2018

A spokesman for the European Commission said this week Juncker would not bring a concrete offer on trade to the White House but is instead interested in a dialogue.

“I do not wish to enter into a discussion about mandates, offers because there are no offers," commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters, according to Reuters. "This is a discussion, it is a dialogue and it is an opportunity to talk and to stay engaged in dialogue."

Trump is not negotiating from an unassailable position. Concerns within the GOP about his trade policy burst into public view again Tuesday when his plan to protect U.S. farmers from retaliatory Chinese tariffs with $12 billion in subsidies met with sharp criticism from within his own party.

More: Trump offers help to farmers hit by escalating China trade war

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Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., has generally been willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt on the tariffs, as long as they don’t last too long. But the Trump administration's announcement Tuesday prompted Meadows to split with the president.

"I’m not saying we need $12 billion to get” to a fair trade agreement, Meadows said. “I’m not in favor of this particular policy, it’s not something that I support.”

Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C, chair of the conservative Republican Study Committee, told USA TODAY that he felt the administration’s tariff policy was “very risky.” To top it off with such a large bailout to keep farmers afloat, “concerned” him. Walker said he’d like to hear Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro game out their long-term plan.

“I think there will be some pushback as far as some of us wanting to know ‘hey, play this out for us,'" Walker said.