BERLIN Will Grier Black Jersey , June 27 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Commerce WilburRoss has cancelled a planned visit to Germany for official talks onshort notice, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs andEnergy (BMWi) told reporters on Tuesday.
Ross was scheduled to meet with the German minister for economicaffairs and energy Brigitte Zypries (SPD), as well as ChancellorAngela Merkel, on Tuesday in order to discuss the future oftransatlantic trading relations.
The BMWi gave no explanation for the cancellation the trip.
The talks were called to address swelling tensions betweenBerlin and Washington caused by the increasingly divergentpositions adopted by the United States and European Union on tradepolicy ever since Donald Trump assumed the office of U.S.Presidency in January.
Together with their European allies, German politicians areirked by the protectionist "America First" agenda espoused byTrump.
The Republican candidate had been a vocal critic ofglobalization on the campaign trail, winning favor with blue collarvoters by promising the return of manufacturing jobs to theAmerican "rustbelt" which was once home to much of the country'sindustrial production.
Trump unilaterally froze trade talks for an accord between theEuropean Union and United States known as the Transatlantic Tradeand Investment Partnership (TTIP) in the first days of hispresidency.
Trump has since repeatedly resisted declaring hisadministration's support for free trade in several joint statementswith international allies Greg Little Black Jersey , leading the German government to expressfears that institutional architecture on which global commerce wasbuilt in the second half of the 20th century, centered onmultilateral organizations like the Geneva-based World TradeOrganization (WTO), was in danger of being unwound.
In turn, Trump and several of his senior aides have attackedGermany's trade surplus versus the United States, which they see asendangering U.S. jobs and prosperity.
Peter Navarro, an official advising Trump on trade andindustrial policy Brian Burns Black Jersey , went as far as to accuse Berlin of using a"grossly undervalued" euro to "exploit" the United States andEuropean Union.
On the side-lines of a meeting with EU leaders in Brussels inMay, President Trump himself showed little diplomatic restraint inbranding Germany as "very bad on trade".
Furthermore, Trump has threatened German car makers with highimport tariffs should they fail to move production to within theU.S. on his infamous twitter account. He later reiterated thewarning to impose such a 35-percent import tariff in an interviewwith German newspaper Bild.
Chancellor Merkel has been wary to fan flames in the ongoingspat, but announced her government's intention to intensify Germanand EU cooperation with other international partners, includingChina in lieu of Washington.
Sounding the launching bell of what increasingly resembles anopen trade war, the European Union and United States have recentlyalso become involved in a heated row over tariffs on steelimports.
Back in April Curtis Samuel Black Jersey , Trump announced an investigation into thepossibility of imposing a blanket tariff on steel imports,regardless of origin, in the name of "national security" to protectthe American steel industry from what he perceives as unfairinternational competition.
Such measures would hit German and European steel manufacturershard, leading to warnings from EU officials in Brussels on Mondaythat the continental bloc would be forced to retaliate.
Cecilia Malmstroem, EU trade commissioner, further questionedwhether a generalized tariff on steel import Christian McCaffrey Black Jersey , justified on thegrounds of national security, could ever be compliant with WTOrules for international trade.
The Trump administration has refused to rule out publishing areport detailing the outcome of the investigation ahead of the G20summit in the northern German city of Hamburg on July 7.Enditem
Global Thermal Ceramics Market 2018, Comprehensive Analysis, Industry Survey, Growth and Major Policies Report