‘I think we’ll have a great conversation, and hopefully it will be the beginning of some long-term trade negotiations,’ U.S. Vice President JD Vance said.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Rome on May 18. Vance said he hoped the rendezvous would lead to more trade discussions between the United States and the European Union.
“Europe is an important ally of the United States … but, of course, we have some disagreements, as friends sometimes do, on issues like trade,” Vance said.
He sat next to Meloni and von der Leyen in Rome after attending Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass.
“I think we’ll have a great conversation, and hopefully it will be the beginning of some long-term trade negotiations and some long-term trade advantages between both Europe and the United States,” Vance added.
The Trump administration imposed a baseline 10 percent tariff on almost all nations, as well as reciprocal and targeted tariffs on imports like steel, aluminum, and automobiles, which see 25 percent levies. The 20 percent U.S. tariff on EU products will go into effect at the end of the 90-day pause if negotiations fail.
Von der Leyen described the trade relationship between the EU and the United States as the largest in the world, being worth more than $1.5 trillion a year.
The two parties have swapped negotiation documents that discuss various topics for future talks, she added.
“It is important now we’ve exchanged papers that our experts are deep diving, are discussing the details,” von der Leyen said. “Everybody knows that the devil is in the detail, but what unites us is that at the end, we want together to have a good deal for both sides.”
She has not yet met with U.S. President Donald Trump since he began his second term in January, only sharing a few brief words at Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican in April.
In addition to negotiating tariffs, von der Leyen said she hoped to also discuss Ukraine and defense spending with Vance.
By Jacob Burg
