DEALMAKER

Trump to Macron: ‘Why Don’t You Leave the EU?’

The president reportedly said he’d offer France a bilateral trade deal with “better terms” if it left the EU.

President Donald Trump reportedly told French President Emmanuel Macron that he’d offer France a bilateral trade agreement with “better terms” if it left the European Union, according to The Washington Post. Two European officials told the newspaper that the president asked his counterpart in a late April meeting, “Why don’t you leave the E.U.?” He then went on to tout a possible bilateral agreement that would have “better terms than the E.U. as a whole gets from the United States,” the newspaper reported. The White House did not deny the exchange to the Post, but did not comment. The president has continually threatened the European Union with tariffs—most recently hanging a 20 percent tariff on all car imports over the U.S. allies’ head.