BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - The trade relationship between the United States and Europe is improving, German Agriculture Minister Julia Kloeckner said on Saturday, but there is no guarantee the bloc will buy the quantity of soybeans that Washington expects.
German Minister of Food and Agriculture Julia Kloeckner speaks at an interview with Reuters during of the G20 Meeting of Agriculture Ministers in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 28, 2018.REUTERS/Martin Acosta
U.S. President Donald Trump and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, struck a surprise deal on Wednesday that ended the risk of an immediate trade war between the two powers.
After the talks, Trump highlighted benefits for U.S. farmers. “The European Union is going to start, almost immediately, to buy a lot of soybeans,” he told reporters.
Kloeckner, speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Buenos Aires, said the amount of soy Europe will import is yet to be determined.
“Will we be able to do whatever President Trump wishes for? I don’t know. Let’s see whether this will be the case or not,” she said.
The EU was expected to import 15.3 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2018/19 crop year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on July 12. The United States is the world’s No. 2 exporter of the oilseed after Brazil.
After Wednesday’s meeting at the White House, Trump agreed to refrain from imposing car tariffs while the European Union and the United States start talks on cutting other trade barriers.
