United States President Donald Trump is trying his luck once again to get people at the European Union to talk -- and get their nod on a "big trade deal" he and his economic team have been working on.
The chief of the European Commission has also called on both sides to look into their shared interests as the touchy trade process unfurls.
In a media briefing with members of the press in Switzerland, Trump said an agreement between "ourselves and Europe is something that we all want to be able to happen," as he voiced out anew a threat to put taxes on imported European vehicles if trade talks fail.
Trump, during a meeting with European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, said the EC leader is known as a "very tough negotiator," which Trump stressed is "bad news" for the US, because a big trade accord is on the line.
The meeting comes as French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump agreed to a truce in their contention over digital tariffs that will mean neither the US nor France will implement retributive tariffs this year.
This tete-a-tete also comes 18 months after Washington promised to forego its vehicle taxes following an agreement with Jean-Claude Juncker, Von Der Leyen's predecessor, who was supposed to prepare the table for discussions over cutting industrial taxes.
Those negotiations have never amounted to anything significant all because the US House of Representatives has expressed its disapproval to agriculture being excluded in the meetings.
Political maneuverings have also gotten in the way of Trump's vehicle taxes threat since Washington passed through a deadline for action in 2019 by doing nothing.
A good number of White House officials are known to block moves for the approval of duties on cars, arguing they would be too disruptive in terms of its economic impact.
Meanwhile, the European Commission chief said Europe and the US should "never forget" their long history of friendship.
But some influential figures in the European bloc that Von der Leyen now leads are not too pleased with the way its leader and the US have been handling process of the trade.
New European Union trade commissioner, Phil Hogan, during a visit to Washington last week, labeled Trump's tax threats as a "short-sighted electioneering" ploy, and warned of reprisals from the EU if Trump went ahead with his tax plans.
According to Hogan in a speech he delivered at the White House, Trump's "America First" program had helped create a crisis moment for the international trading community.
