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According to German media reports, Donald Trump had condemned Germany for "very bad" trade policies during a meeting with Mr Juncker, signalling he might take steps to limit sales of the country's cars in the United States.

Mr Juncker called the reports in Spiegel Online and Sueddeutsche Zeitung exaggerated, saying that while Mr Trump had talked about Germany's trade surplus as a problem, he had not done so aggressively.



But at a Group of Seven summit in Sicily today, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn said: "[Donald Trump] said they're very bad on trade, but he doesn't have a problem with Germany."



Mr Cohn said Mr Trump had pointed out during the meeting with Mr Juncker and Donald Tusk that his father had German roots in order to underscore the message that he had nothing against the German people.

Mr Trump's spokesman Sean Spicer also said the US President had "tremendous respect" for Germany and had only complained about unfair trade practices in the meeting.

Earlier on, the European Commission President Mr Juncker was quick to defend ally and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the G7 group braces itself for trade talks with the US.

The Brussels bigwig said the United States cannot compare trade surplus to the European Union.