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Brussels (AFP)

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington next week in a bid to convince him to drop tariffs on metals and steer away from further duties on cars.

Juncker, who heads the powerful executive arm of the 28-nation European Union, will travel to the White House on July 25 against a backdrop of deepening transatlantic tensions.

Trump imposed duties of 25 percent on steel imports and 10 percent on aluminium in March, but had given temporary exemptions to the EU and some other close trading partners as talks continued.

But those exemptions were lifted in early June, prompting a raft of retaliatory tariffs by the EU, and Trump is now considering whether to impose hefty levies on European automobiles.

"President Juncker and President Trump will focus on improving transatlantic trade and forging a stronger economic partnership," a European Commission statement said.

But Washington has shown no sign of compromise as it pursues its "America First" policies across a range of issues, even if it means alienating traditional allies.

Besides the tariffs, the US has threatened European companies with huge fines if they continue to operate in Iran, after Trump reimposed far-reaching sanctions while pulling out of the landmark 2015 deal on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.

A French finance ministry source told AFP on Tuesday that US officials have rejected a joint request made by Paris, London, Berlin and the EU last month to exempt their companies operating in Iran from the sanctions.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin "did not respond favourably to any of the requests in our letter," the source said, confirming a report in The Financial Times on Monday.

Earlier this month Trump implemented tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports, drawing a tit-for-tat response from Beijing.

"President Juncker and President Trump will focus on improving transatlantic trade and forging a stronger economic partnership," a European Commission statement said.

It said they would also "discuss the deep cooperation between the European Union and the United States government and institutions across a wide range of priorities, including foreign and security policy, counterterrorism, energy security, and economic growth."

- Brutal killer? -

The White House confirmed the meeting next Wednesday in a statement that was almost identical to the one issued by Brussels -- but which dropped the mention of the "deep cooperation" between both sides.

Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, said recently that Trump had called him a "brutal killer" when the two discussed trade at the fractious G7 meeting in Canada -- but added that he was not sure if it was a compliment.

Trump has also railed on Twitter over what he calls Europe's "big tariffs and barriers" to trade.

"The European Union makes it impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe (US has a $151 billion trade deficit)," he wrote last week.

The EU has been repeatedly pushing the United States to exempt it from the stinging tariffs on metals that Trump unveiled earlier this year, and the prospect of car tariffs have come as a new blow.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said last week that she would back opening talks with trading partners on lowering automobile duties, in what appeared to be an olive branch to Trump.

EU-US ties have also been strained by Trump's broadside at NATO allies over defence spending at a summit last week, and over his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Trump said on Tuesday had been "even better" than the NATO talks.

Juncker was in Tokyo with EU President Donald Tusk on Tuesday to sign a trade deal that they hailed as a "clear message... against protectionism".

© 2018 AFP