Juncker's assessment is a little different than Trump's

Quelle suprise.








Ever heard of European greeting customs?  Or, maybe, a Judas kiss?

When asked on his flight from Brussels whether he was ready, after having pored through piles of documents stacked in blue folders, the European Commission president [Jean-Claude Juncker] smiled and said: “No. We’ll have to see how it goes.”

[...]

What followed between the two leaders ushered in a potentially significant de-escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and EU, after months in which the Trump administration had applied tariffs on European steel, and threatened more. The resulting agreement was vague, but the two sides agreed to pursue a range of possibilities—including increased U.S. exports of natural gas and soybeans—that might address the trans-Atlantic trade imbalance.

[...]

[Trump] was “charming, well-briefed” and “made an effort” to reach a deal with his European counterpart, the senior EU official said.

  WSJ

What? Not belligerent, late to the meeting, caustic? Did they drug him first?

Mr. Juncker grabbed the opportunity to argue that both sides need to refrain from further punitive tariffs or they would foolishly harm themselves.

“If you want to be stupid,” he told Mr. Trump, “I can be stupid, as well.”

Oh, snap.

Backing up his points, Mr. Juncker flipped through more than a dozen colorful cue cards with simplified explainers, the senior EU official said. Each card had at most three figures about a specific topic, such as trade in cars or standards for medical devices.

LOL. They did their homework.

“We knew this wasn’t an academic seminar,” the EU official said. “It had to be very simple.”

Oh, snap.

[Chief economic adviser Larry] Kudlow had met with Mr. Juncker’s team the previous evening and hinted at a possible deal.

Still, when EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer on Wednesday morning, odds of an agreement looked remote. Mr. Lighthizer seemed unaware of the overture made by Mr. Kudlow the night before and insisted on issues that were a no-go for the Europeans, such as opening the entire agricultural sector to U.S. firms, the EU official said.

Nobody knows shit about anybody else in this administration. It's a semi hauling a load of farm chickens jack-knifed in an interstate median.

Mr. Juncker told Mr. Trump and Mr. Lighthizer that any talk of including agriculture would kill prospects of a deal.

[...]

Mr. Juncker said he trusts Mr. Trump to stick to the elements of the agreement. “We have a good personal relation,” he said.

Juncker should talk to Michael Cohen about that.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDUPDATE:

In case you'd like to read an assessment of the nothingburger agreement, click here.