President Trump Announced ‘Biggest Trade Deal Ever’ With the European Union

The usual suspects in the media have been painting President Trump’s weekend trip to Scotland as a vacation and running away from tough situations in Washington, however, our president hammered out a major trade deal with the European Union which was announced Sunday afternoon.

Prior to beginning their private meeting, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President Trump made brief remarks to the press, and Trump took questions. He touched on a number of topics, including “renewable energy” schemes like windmill farms which he says drive whales “loco.”

Trump did not provide a specific amount the EU countries would spend on military equipment, having said there was not a firm number in the deal, but that it would be “hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment.”

The agreement for the EU to purchase $750 billion worth of energy from the United States changes the state of political affairs globally since it makes EU countries less dependent on Russia for energy and takes lots of money out of the pockets of Vladimir Putin and Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.

Von der Leyen said the deal was necessary to “rebalance” trade between the EU and the U.S. and, sounding a tad bit Trumpian, she said:

We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it’s a big deal. It’s a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That’s very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s 15 percent tariffs across the board, all inclusive, the investments that Mr. President just described that are gonna go to the United States…indeed, basically the European market is open. It’s 450 million people. So, it’s a good deal. It’s a huge deal with tough negotiations. I knew it at the beginning, and it was indeed very tough. But, we came to a good conclusion for both sides.

The deal has been in the works for “months,” Trump said, having added:

I think it’s good that we made a deal today instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all.

All tariffs will go into effect on August 1.

Trump’s meeting with von der Leyen was not announced until Saturday evening, when the White House published an updated schedule for Sunday. Trump said he has “many more” meetings planned during the trip.

NOTE: President Trump needed just 75 minutes to obtain what he wanted from the European Union.

That is how long he and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen were away from the cameras. When they returned, Trump was triumphant.

“I think it’s the biggest deal ever made,” Trump proclaimed.

The stated terms of the tariff deal appeared to be remarkably lopsided in favor of the US. Von der Leyen suggested the only real concession from the Americans was that Trump would not impose 30% tariffs he had threatened.

The 27-member bloc is America’s biggest trading partner if taken together, with total trade hitting $1.97 trillion last year. The US trade deficit for goods was $235 billion.

The deal avoids a trade war between two economies that account for about 44% of the world’s gross domestic product—less than a week before steep “Liberation Day” were set to bite.

The president said.

I think we both wanted to make a deal. It’s going to bring us closer together. I think this deal will bring us very close together.

Before announcing the agreement, both Trump and von der Leyen put the odds at making a deal at 50-50. The European leader had flown to Scotland to meet Trump at his Turnberry golf course, where the president spent the morning golfing with son Eric.