This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Donald Trump’s ambassador to the European Union has said the US wants to reduce the invective in the transatlantic relationship – but he exempted the White House’s tweeter-in-chief from the reset.

“We want to dispense with some of the invective that’s been going in both directions and get back to a more productive relationship,” said the US ambassador to Brussels, Gordon Sondland, as he briefed journalists on a recent visit by the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

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Sondland later clarified that his comments on invective did not refer to Trump – who has dismissed the EU as “a vehicle for Germany”, praised Brexit and attacked prominent European politicians, from Theresa May to Margrethe Vestager.

Sondland said hopes for reducing the invective referred to “the working level”, rather than leaders, adding: “I think the president is free to express his frustration whenever he wants.”

Pompeo met incoming EU leaders on a low-key visit to Brussels on Monday and Tuesday, encounters that Sondland described as “warm and friendly”.

In the rapid round of meetings, Pompeo met Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, incoming presidents of the European commission and council respectively.

“We talked about the necessity to get our relationship back on track again,” Sondland said. The ambassador said he was “not complaining” but relations had been “very difficult” with the EU. “We have gotten a lot of pushback, we have gotten a lot of nos. Changing the members of the team might help break that logjam.”

The US team did not see serving EU leaders, including Jean-Claude Juncker, who negotiated a truce in a trade dispute with the US. Nor did they see Donald Tusk, who has previously described the Trump-led United States as a geopolitical “threat” to the EU.

A multimillionaire hotelier appointed by Trump, Sondland argued that “differences are not necessarily as great as they are portrayed in the media”, citing Iran as an example.

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Yet the EU and US remain deeply divided on how to handle Iran, after Donald Trump pulled out of the international agreement to limit the country’s nuclear programme. The ambassador said the US was studying a plan from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to set up a $15bn credit line for oil sales – an idea that hinges on US buy-in.

Yawning gaps remain over the climate emergency, while the two sides did not discuss the details of their differences on trade in the latest meetings. Sondland said “the substance of our trade disagreement hasn’t changed”, while adding he was cautiously optimistic. The US, he said, wanted “to identify some low-hanging fruit” where the two sides could reach “some quick preliminary agreements” to build trust, including Iran, Venezuela, China and the rollout of 5G.

Ian Lesser, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Brussels office, said that Europeans would be looking for clear prospects of policy change. “To have a reset on style is possible to an extent, to have a reset in policy is much more difficult.

“I do think some very considerable damage has been done in recent years by discourse and policy choices, but the truth is there is a very substantial relationship that remains.”

Pompeo and Sondland also met the new president of the European parliament, David Sassoli, as well as the future EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, who has previously slammed Washington’s “cowboy” diplomacy in Venezuela.

Spokespeople at the European commission and parliament declined to comment on the meetings, beyond confirming “introductory” and “first contact” meetings had taken place.

The US media criticised the decision not to invite any journalist on to the secretary of state’s plane, a breach with standard practice.