German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas warned that Europe will not be “threatened” by Washington and stated that it wanted to find a solution to the dispute via talks.

Maas’ comments come ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on July 25.

“It is good that Jean-Claude Juncker will be in Washington tomorrow to talk and to seek a solution but we are not heading to negotiations with a pistol at our chest. I don’t think threats bring us closer to a solution. We in Europe must stick together… I hope that we succeed in resolving this via consensus but we will not be threatened and climb down so easily,” he told German public television./41

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said last week that the negotiations would mainly focus on preventing a further deterioration in relations between Washington and Brussles.

Maas’ remarks echoed French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire’s comments earlier this week when he was quoted as saying that France and Germany agreed Washington needed to take the first step in trade talks by eliminating tariffs.

“We refuse to negotiate with a gun to our head,” he said on the sidenlines of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Buenos Aires.

Speaking to the Funke newspaper last week, Maas said that the EU could “no longer completely rely” on the United States and in order to “maintain our partnership with the USA we must readjust it.”

“We can no longer completely rely on the White House,” he stated, adding, “The first clear consequence can only be that we need to align ourselves even more closely in Europe.”

Source: Sputnik