A White House
adviser is clearing up comments made by President Donald Trump that
"the Germans are bad, very bad."
German publication Der Spiegel reported that Trump “voiced
significant displeasure” about Germany’s trade surplus during a meeting with
European Union leaders in Brussels, Belgium.
On Friday morning in Taormina, Sicily, the site of a meeting
with G7 leaders, White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn said Trump’s
comments were about trade.
"He said they're very bad on trade but he doesn't have a
problem with Germany,” said Cohn. “He said his dad is from Germany. He said, 'I
don't have a problem with Germany, I have a problem with German trade.'"
Trump has taken aim at the German car industry in the past. In
an interview with German newspaper Bild, Trump described trade between the two
countries as “out of balance.”
“If you go down Fifth Avenue everyone has a Mercedes-Benz in
front of his house, isn’t that the case?” said Trump. “The fact is that … there
is no reciprocity. How many Chevrolets do you see in Germany? Not very many,
maybe none at all it’s a one-way street. It must work both ways.”
Cohn also addressed Trump’s position on the Paris climate
accord. G7 leaders have expressed concern over the United States potentially
pulling out of the international agreement and setting back efforts mitigate
climate change.
Cohn said the president will be listening to concerns from
European leaders.
"I think he's learning to understanding the European
position,” said Cohn. “Look, as you know from the U.S., there's very strong
views on both sides. Both sides are running ads. So he knows that in the U.S.,
there's very strong opinions on both sides but he also knows that Paris has
important meaning to many of the European leaders. And he wants to clearly hear
what the European leaders have to say."
Trump is still deciding whether or not the U.S. will stay in the
agreement. On Thursday, twenty-two Senate Republicans, including Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, sent a letter to the White House
urging the president to pull out of the deal, citing concerns about jobs.
But even in the White House, Trump has been faced with two sides
of the debate. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former chief executive of
Exxon, supports the deal while Environmental Protection Agency administrator
Scott Pruitt disagrees.
Pope Francis nudged Trump about climate change during their
meeting at the Vatican this week. As a gift, the Pope presented Trump with his
2015 encyclical "Laudato Si," which calls for global action on the
issue.
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