Trump: EU trade agreement reached

US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker reached an agreement on Wednesday to avoid a transatlantic trade war. Trump hailed it as a "new phase'' in trade relations between the two sides.

The agreement calls for the EU to expand imports of US liquified natural gas and soybeans and the lowering of industrial tariffs on both sides, Trump said. The US and the EU will "hold off on other tariffs" while negotiations proceed, Juncker said.

"We had a big day, very big," Trump said in a joint statement with Juncker at a joint press conference in the White House Rose.

"We agreed today first of all to work together towards zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers and zero subsides for the non-auto industrial goods," Trump said. He said that the two sides would start negotiations immediately on a number of areas including working toward "zero tariffs" on industrial goods and further cooperation on energy issues.

"We're starting the negotiation right now, but we know very much where it's going," Trump said.

Juncker said, "I had the intention to make a deal today, and we have made a deal today."

Juncker said the two leaders agreed that as long as negotiations were ongoing, "we'll hold off further tariffs and reassess existing tariffs on steel and aluminum" put in place by the Trump administration. "This was a good, constructive meeting," he added.

European Commission spokesperson Kinga Malinowska said that Juncker had not made any concessions. "All I can say is that the talks are ongoing," Malinowska said in a statement. "President Juncker is working to avert new tariffs. No concessions made."

Trump earlier this year implemented steel tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent on aluminum on the EU. It responded with retaliatory tariffs on US goods. The US has put tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, with each of those nations slapping retaliatory tariffs on American goods.

Trump had threatened large tariffs on European cars. Last week, Trump said he was ready to impose a "tremendous retribution" against the EU.

Prior to Juncker meeting with Trump, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the trade bloc wanted to reach a settlement with the US but warned it would not shy away from hitting back at the punitive tariffs placed on certain exports by the Trump administration.

The retaliation would affect about $20 billion worth of goods, Malmstrom said, adding that the tariffs would not be levied against consumer goods.

"We hope that it doesn't come to that and that we can find a solution," she told Dagens Nyheter, a daily newspaper in Sweden.