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Your support makes all the difference.The president of the European Commission is to travel to Washington for meetings with Donald Trump as relations between the EU and US hit their lowest point in recent memory.
Jean-Claude Juncker will meet Mr Trump on 25 July at the White House, where the pair of leaders are expected to discuss security and economic matters.
The US president, a regular critic of the European Union, has triggered a nascent trade war with the bloc by imposing steel and aluminium tariffs on exports to the US.
He says Europe treats the US in a “very unfair” manner on trade, and has also come to blows with the bloc on other issues such as the Iran nuclear deal and the construction of a new gas pipeline connecting the EU to Russia.
The EU has hit back with its own tariffs against US goods, which prompted Mr Trump to suggest further charges on European goods, notably cars, could be on the way.
Senior EU officials have previously suggested that Mr Trump “hates” Europe and that his policies are bad for the continent.
Mr Juncker’s counterpart of the European Council, Donald Tusk, warned Mr Trump earlier this month to “appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many”.
The continent’s national leaderships have taken different approaches to the controversial US president, who has admitted that he uses his fame to grope women, has said he wants to ban Muslims from entering the United States, and whose policies include separating the children of migrants from their mothers.
Former German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel suggested Mr Trump wanted “regime change” in Berlin and urged European nations to stop appeasing him, arguing that the American leader only respected strength. At the other end of the spectrum, Theresa May rolled out the red carpet for Mr Trump during a diplomatic visit last week, introducing him to the Queen and holding his hand in public despite mass protests against his arrival.
Mr Trump reciprocated by saying Ms May’s rival Boris Johnson would make a good prime minister and suggesting that her Brexit plan was not what people voted for and could jeopardise a US trade deal after Britain leaves. He later denied he made the comments, branding them “fake news”, despite the publication of a recording of the interview, and went on to say European culture was being ruined by immigrants.
Mr Trump’s visit to the UK came as part of a seven-day tour of Europe which also included a Nato summit in Brussels, attended by leaders from the military alliance.
A European Commission spokesperson said: “President Jean-Claude Juncker will travel to Washington on 25 July 2018 where he will be received by President Donald J Trump at the White House.
“The two leaders will 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.
“President Juncker and President Trump will focus on improving transatlantic trade and forging a stronger economic partnership.”
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