EU commissioner suggests broad cuts to tariffs with U.S.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union’s budget commissioner, Guenther Oettinger, said on Wednesday the bloc could try to seek a wide reduction of tariffs in negotiations with the United States this year.

“In this way, we want to avoid a further escalation of the trade conflict, and to avoid a trade war,” Oettinger, a German, told Deutschlandfunk radio.

“One could try to untangle the existing tariffs and then ... reduce tariffs for various goods and services.”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker travels to Washington on Wednesday for talks focused on trade tensions after the U.S. imposition of tariffs on EU steel and aluminum and U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to extend those measures to European cars.

On Monday, the Commission said Juncker would not arrive in the United States for the talks with Trump with a specific trade offer.