(WASHINGTON) — The government announced a $12 billion plan Tuesday to assist farmers who have been hurt by President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other trading partners.

The plan focuses on Midwest soybean producers and others targeted by retaliatory measures.

The Agriculture Department said the proposal would include direct assistance for farmers, purchases of excess crops and trade promotion activities aimed at building new export markets. Officials said the plan would not require congressional approval and would come through the Commodity Credit Corporation, a wing of the department that addresses agricultural prices.

“This is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his administration the time to work on long-term trade deals,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Officials said the direct payments could help producers of soybeans, which have been hit hard by the Trump tariffs, along with sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and farmers raising hogs.

In Kansas City, meanwhile, Trump told a veterans convention that he was trying to renegotiate trade agreements that he said have hurt American workers, and he asked for patience ahead of key talks.

“We’re making tremendous progress. They’re all coming. They don’t want to have those tariffs put on them,” Trump told the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.

Trump declared earlier Tuesday that “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

Tariffs are taxes on imports. They are meant to protect domestic businesses and put foreign competitors at a disadvantage. But the taxes also exact a toll on U.S. businesses and consumers, which pay more for imported products.

The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s high-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork, affecting Midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign.

Trump has threatened to place penalty taxes on up to $500 billion in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe’s biggest economies.

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Lisa Mascaro in Washington contributed.</s>Trump threatens more tariffs on US trading partners

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that "Tariffs are the greatest!" and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

Trump tweeted from the White House that U.S. trade partners need to either negotiate a "fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It's as simple as that."

The president has engaged in hardline trading negotiations with China, Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate trade agreements he says have undermined the nation's manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades. The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. trading partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.

And the president has already put tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports in a separate dispute over Beijing's high-tech industrial policies. Trump has threatened to ratchet that up to more than $500 billion, a move that has left financial markets uneasy. Beijing's retaliatory tariffs have hit American soybeans and pork.

Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday that the U.S. is a "'piggy bank' that's being robbed." He noted that countries "that have treated us unfairly on trade for years" are coming to Washington to negotiate.

The president is meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president's tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.</s>WASHINGTON/KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday said it will use a Great Depression-era program to pay up to $12 billion to help U.S. farmers weather a growing trade war with China, the European Union and others that the president began.

It is a clear signal the U.S. President Donald Trump is determined to stick with tariffs as his weapon of choice in the conflict.

The move meant to cushion the blow for a politically important constituency was met with broad criticism by many farmers and farm-belt lawmakers, including Republicans. Rural and agricultural states supported Trump by wide margins in the 2016 election.

Trump's trade policies have become central in several rural-state U.S. Senate races ahead of congressional elections in November.

The president, speaking at an event in Kansas City on Tuesday, reaffirmed his support for tariffs and pledged that "farmers will be the biggest beneficiary."

"Just be a little patient," Trump said.

The relief package is intended as a temporary boost to farmers as the United States and China negotiate over trade issues, officials said.

"This obviously is a short-term solution that will give President Trump time to work on a long-term trade policy," said Sonny Perdue, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The aid will be financed through the USDA's Commodity Credit Corporation and will not require congressional approval, Perdue said.

The administration's action appeared to divide Republicans, with some praising the move and others troubled by what they view as the kind of widespread government-assistance program their party has traditionally opposed.

"This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and the White House's 'plan' is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches," said Senator Ben Sasse, of Nebraska who frequently criticizes the president, a fellow Republican.

Farmers have been a particular target in the current clash over trade policy as other countries seek to retaliate for Trump's duties on Chinese goods as well as on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Those affected economies have in turn targeted U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans, dairy, meat, produce and liquor.

The United States exported $138 billion in agriculture products in 2017, including $21.5 billion of soybeans, the most valuable export. China alone imported $12.3 billion of U.S. soybeans last year, according to the USDA.

The size of the direct payments to farmers as a result of trade shortfalls would be unprecedented, said Scott Irwin, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois.

"We have never compensated farmers directly on such a large scale for retaliatory tariffs," Irwin said.

The news lifted shares of farm equipment companies on the prospect that farmers will have more money to spend on tractors and other farm gear. Deere & Co jumped 3.1 percent, while Caterpillar Inc gained more than 1 percent and AGCO Corp rose 0.6 percent.

Stock options trading in Deere and Caterpillar also saw a burst of activity in the 30 minutes before the news broke, according to a Reuters analysis of Trade Alert data. Some of those contracts more than doubled in price after word of the pending plan broke in a Politico report.

Options activity has been known to spike before the public announcement of market-moving news and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has pursued enforcement actions when the activity has been determined to be insider trading involving options. There was no immediate indication that Tuesday's volume increases were anything other than coincidental.

Soybean futures <0#S:>, driven to a 10-year low in part by China's retaliatory tariffs, rose 1.2 percent and hit their highest in two weeks as traders bet farm aid would improve demand, reducing a current surplus supply.

Still, Blake Hurst, a corn and soybean farmer and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, said that unless the White House's policies change, the U.S. agriculture industry will continue to suffer.

“The payments will be helpful to farmers facing overdue loans and angry bankers, but are completely insufficient if they mean that tariffs and the trade war will last for the foreseeable future," Hurst said. "They are a very temporary bandage to a self-inflicted wound.”

Some members of Trump's own party agreed.

"Tariffs are taxes that punish American consumers and producers," Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul wrote on Twitter https://twitter.com/RandPaul/status/1021791878663090177. "If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers — the answer is remove the tariffs."

Kevin Cramer, a U.S. representative trying to unseat Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, praised the move.

"Great to see @POTUS (Trump) providing aid to farmers impacted by retaliatory #tariffs," Cramer wrote on Twitter https://twitter.com/RepKevinCramer/status/1021789813299716097.

Later this week, Trump will visit Iowa and Illinois, two other farm-belt states, as he seeks to shore up support for Republican candidates in the U.S. Midwest.</s>(CBS) — President Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker have agreed to work towards “zero” tariffs,” Mr. Trump announced in a joint statement with Juncker in the White House Rose Garden Wednesday. Juncker said the two have agreed to hold off on further tariffs as they negotiate the details.

“We agreed today, first of all, to work together toward zero tariffs, zero, non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods,” Mr. Trump told reporters.

The news comes after Mr. Trump threatened tariffs on auto imports, and Reuters reported the European Commission is preparing retaliatory tariffs. Mr. Trump has long threatened to continue raising tariffs, claiming the EU treats the U.S. and particularly farmers unfairly.

“When I was invited by the president to the White House, I had one intention: I had the intention to make a deal today. And we made a deal today,” Juncker said.

Mr. Trump noted a few specifics on the agreement he says the U.S. and EU teams reached Wednesday. Later in the afternoon, the EU issued their joint statement.
• Mr. Trump said the two will “work to reduce barriers and increase trade in services, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, medical products, as well as soy beans, soy beans is a big deal. And the European Union is going to start, almost immediately, to buy a lot of soy beans, they’re a tremendous market, buy a lot of soy beans from our farmers in the Midwest, primarily.”
• “Secondly, we agreed to a strengthened and strengthening of our strategic cooperation with respect to energy,” Mr. Trump said. “The European Union wants to import more liquified natural gas, LNG, from the United States, and they’re going to be a very, very big buyer. We’re going to make it much easier for them but they’re going to be a massive buyer of LNG so they’ll be able to diversify their energy supply.”
• “Thirdly we agreed today to launch a close dialogue on standards in order to ease trade, reduce bureaucratic obstacles, and slash costs dramatically,” the president said.

Mr. Trump also said the U.S. will “resolve the steel and aluminum tariff issues and we will resolve retaliatory tariffs.”

The U.S. and EU, Mr. Trump said, are establishing an executive working group to hash out details on trade and assess existing tariffs “to the betterment of both.”

“We’re starting the negotiation right now but we know very much where it’s going,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Trump said the EU and U.S. are launching a “new phase in the relationship” between the two nations, one of close “friendship.” Less than two weeks ago, Mr. Trump told CBS News’ Jeff Glor he considers the EU a “foe” because of how the collection of nations has treated the U.S. on trade.

Moments before the joint statement was to start, the White House issued a press release blasting other nations, including the EU, over tariffs related to agriculture.

The president has continued to rant over trade on Twitter, as even members of his own party declare tariffs ineffective at best, and harmful at worst.

“Every time I see a weak politician asking to stop Trade talks or the use of Tariffs to counter unfair Tariffs, I wonder, what can they be thinking? Are we just going to continue and let our farmers and country get ripped off? Lost $817 Billion on Trade last year. No weakness!” the president tweeted Wednesday morning.</s>WASHINGTON/KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would pay up to $12 billion to help U.S. farmers weather a growing trade battle with China, the European Union and others, a clear signal the president is determined to stick with tariffs as his weapon of choice in the conflict.

The move to cushion the blow for a politically important constituency - rural and agricultural states that supported U.S. President Donald Trump by wide margins in the election but have been targeted by China’s retaliation to his trade tactics - was met with broad criticism by many farmers and farm-belt lawmakers.

Trump’s trade policies have become central in several rural-state U.S. Senate races ahead of congressional elections in November, as Democrats there try to keep hold of several seats that Republicans have targeted.

The president, speaking at an event in Kansas City on Tuesday, aggressively reaffirmed his support for tariffs and pledged that ultimately, “farmers will be the biggest beneficiary.”

“Just be a little patient,” Trump said.

To that end, the relief package is intended to serve as only a temporary boost to farmers as the United States and China negotiate over trade issues, officials said.

“This obviously is a short-term solution that will give President Trump time to work on a long-term trade policy,” said Sonny Perdue, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The aid will be financed through the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation and thus will not require congressional approval, Perdue said.

The CCC has broad authority to make loans and direct payments to U.S. growers when prices for corn, soybeans, wheat and other agricultural goods are low.

Kevin Cramer, a U.S. representative trying to unseat Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, praised the move.

“Great to see [Trump] providing aid to farmers impacted by retaliatory tariffs,” Cramer wrote on Twitter.

But other Republicans were troubled by what they view as the kind of widespread government-assistance program their party has traditionally opposed.

“This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and the White House’s ‘plan’ is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches,” said Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican who frequently criticizes the president, a fellow Republican.

“Tariffs are taxes that punish American consumers and producers,” Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul wrote on Twitter. “If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers — the answer is remove the tariffs.”

Democratic Representative Jackie Speier of California, a major agricultural state, on Twitter accused Trump of trying to “placate the farmers that voted for you” with a $12 billion payment.

Later this week, Trump will visit Iowa and Illinois, two other farm-belt states, as he seeks to shore up support for Republican candidates in those regions.

Farmers have been a particular target in the current clash over trade policy as other countries seek to retaliate for Trump’s duties on Chinese goods as well as on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Those affected economies have in turn targeted U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans, dairy, meat, produce and liquor.

The United States exported $138 billion in agriculture products in 2017, including $21.5 billion of soybeans, the most valuable export. China alone imported $12.3 billion of U.S. soybeans last year, according to the USDA.

The size of the direct payments to farmers as a result of trade shortfalls would be unprecedented, said Scott Irwin, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois.

“We have never compensated farmers directly on such a large scale for retaliatory tariffs,” Irwin said.

The news lifted shares of farm equipment companies on the prospect that farmers will have more money to spend on tractors and other farm gear. Deere & Co jumped 3.1 percent, while Caterpillar Inc gained more than 1 percent and AGCO Corp rose 0.6 percent. Soybean futures <0#S:>, hit hard by China’s retaliatory tariffs, rose 1.2 percent and hit their highest in two weeks as traders bet farm aid would improve demand, reducing a current surplus supply.

Still, Blake Hurst, a corn and soybean farmer and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, said that unless the White House’s policies change, the U.S. agriculture industry will continue to suffer.

“The payments will be helpful to farmers facing overdue loans and angry bankers, but are completely insufficient if they mean that tariffs and the trade war will last for the foreseeable future,” Hurst said. “They are a very temporary bandage to a self-inflicted wound.”</s>WASHINGTON — The Trump administration readied a plan Tuesday to send billions in emergency aid to farmers who have been caught in the crossfire of President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other U.S. trading partners.

The Agriculture Department was expected to announce the proposal that would include direct assistance and other temporary relief for farmers, according to two people briefed on the plan, who were not authorized to speak on the record.

The plan comes as President Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Kansas City in the heart of the nation’s farm country.

Trump declared earlier Tuesday that “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s high-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork, affecting Midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign.

Trump has threatened to place tariffs on up to $500 billion in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe’s biggest economies.

Before departing for Kansas City, Trump tweeted that U.S. trade partners need to either negotiate a “fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It’s as simple as that.”

The president has engaged in hard-line trading negotiations with China, Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate trade agreements he says have undermined the nation’s manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades.

The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. trading partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.

During a Monday event at the White House featuring American-made goods, Trump displayed a green hat that read, “Make Our Farmers Great Again.”

“We’re stopping the barriers to other countries. They send them in and take advantage of us,” Trump said. “This is the way it’s going to go — make our farmers great again.”

The president is meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president’s tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.

Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.</s>WASHINGTON/KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday said it would pay up to $12 billion to help U.S. farmers weather a growing trade battle with China, the European Union and others, a clear signal the president is determined to stick with tariffs as his weapon of choice in the conflict.

The move to cushion the blow for a politically important constituency - rural and agricultural states that supported U.S. President Donald Trump by wide margins in the election but have been targeted by China’s retaliation to his trade tactics - was met with broad criticism by many farmers and farm-belt lawmakers.

Trump’s trade policies have become central in several rural-state U.S. Senate races ahead of congressional elections in November, as Democrats there try to keep hold of several seats that Republicans have targeted.

The president, speaking at an event in Kansas City on Tuesday, aggressively reaffirmed his support for tariffs and pledged that ultimately, “farmers will be the biggest beneficiary.”

“Just be a little patient,” Trump said.

To that end, the relief package is intended to serve as only a temporary boost to farmers as the United States and China negotiate over trade issues, officials said.

“This obviously is a short-term solution that will give President Trump time to work on a long-term trade policy,” said Sonny Perdue, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The aid will be financed through the USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation and thus will not require congressional approval, Perdue said.

The CCC has broad authority to make loans and direct payments to U.S. growers when prices for corn, soybeans, wheat and other agricultural goods are low.

Kevin Cramer, a U.S. representative trying to unseat Democrat Senator Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota, praised the move.

“Great to see [Trump] providing aid to farmers impacted by retaliatory tariffs,” Cramer wrote on Twitter.

But other Republicans were troubled by what they view as the kind of widespread government-assistance program their party has traditionally opposed.

“This trade war is cutting the legs out from under farmers and the White House’s ‘plan’ is to spend $12 billion on gold crutches,” said Senator Ben Sasse, a Nebraska Republican who frequently criticizes the president, a fellow Republican.

“Tariffs are taxes that punish American consumers and producers,” Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul wrote on Twitter. “If tariffs punish farmers, the answer is not welfare for farmers — the answer is remove the tariffs.”

Democratic Representative Jackie Speier of California, a major agricultural state, on Twitter accused Trump of trying to “placate the farmers that voted for you” with a $12 billion payment.

Later this week, Trump will visit Iowa and Illinois, two other farm-belt states, as he seeks to shore up support for Republican candidates in those regions.

Farmers have been a particular target in the current clash over trade policy as other countries seek to retaliate for Trump’s duties on Chinese goods as well as on steel and aluminum imports from the European Union, Canada and Mexico. Those affected economies have in turn targeted U.S. agricultural products, including soybeans, dairy, meat, produce and liquor.

The United States exported $138 billion in agriculture products in 2017, including $21.5 billion of soybeans, the most valuable export. China alone imported $12.3 billion of U.S. soybeans last year, according to the USDA.

The size of the direct payments to farmers as a result of trade shortfalls would be unprecedented, said Scott Irwin, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois.

“We have never compensated farmers directly on such a large scale for retaliatory tariffs,” Irwin said.

The news lifted shares of farm equipment companies on the prospect that farmers will have more money to spend on tractors and other farm gear. Deere & Co jumped 3.1 percent, while Caterpillar Inc gained more than 1 percent and AGCO Corp rose 0.6 percent. Soybean futures <0#S:>, hit hard by China’s retaliatory tariffs, rose 1.2 percent and hit their highest in two weeks as traders bet farm aid would improve demand, reducing a current surplus supply.

Still, Blake Hurst, a corn and soybean farmer and president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, said that unless the White House’s policies change, the U.S. agriculture industry will continue to suffer.

“The payments will be helpful to farmers facing overdue loans and angry bankers, but are completely insufficient if they mean that tariffs and the trade war will last for the foreseeable future,” Hurst said. “They are a very temporary bandage to a self-inflicted wound.”</s>The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it will grant up to $12 billion in emergency aid to farmers hurt by retaliatory tariffs in the ongoing trade fight with China and other American trading partners.

Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said that the plan, which will provide direct assistance and other temporary relief for farmers through the USDA’s commodity program, is meant as a stopgap measure that will give Trump time to negotiate a long-term policy with China, the European Union and others.

The plan was announced as Trump spoke at the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Kansas City, where he urged patience in dealing with the tariffs and claimed that “farmers will be the biggest beneficiary” of the trade deals in the end.

“Farmers will be the biggest beneficiaries,” Trump told the crowd gathered inside Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium. “We’re going to do something that has never been done.”

The plan, however, has already magnified objections among some Republicans that the tariffs amount to taxes on American consumers. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said lawmakers are making the case to Trump that tariffs are “not the way to go.”

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said the plan would spend billions on “gold crutches.”

“America’s farmers don’t want to be paid to lose — they want to win by feeding the world,” he said. “This administration’s tariffs and bailouts aren’t going to make America great again, they’re just going to make it 1929 again.”

The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s high-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork, affecting Midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign.

Trump has threatened to place penalty taxes on up to $500 billion in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe’s biggest economies.

The administration has also engaged in hardline trading negotiations with Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate agreements he says have undermined the nation’s manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades.

The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.

The president on Wednesday will meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker at the White House as the EU hopes to convince him to hold off from raising tariffs on imported cars and avoid a trans-Atlantic trade war.

During his speech in Kansas, Trump appeared less than conciliatory in his approach to European allies. He called the EU “terrible” and said the U.S. was losing billions of dollars in a trade deficit.

“These countries have been ripping us off for decades,” he said. “What the EU is doing is terrible.”

The stakes are high, as the car industry carries huge heft in terms of trade and jobs in both the EU and U.S.

The European car federation says that the United States is the No. 1 destination for EU-built cars, amounting to almost 30 percent of the total EU export value. It accounts for a quarter of U.S. car imports.

If Trump imposes a 25 percent tariff on imports of cars, trucks and auto parts, it “risks dragging us all down to a game of tit for tat retaliations that ultimately leave consumers in the U.S. as well as in Europe worse off,” said Professor Alexander Mattelaer of the Egmont Institute think tank.

Fox News’ Kelly Chernenkoff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>Trump threatens more tariffs on US trading partners

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that "Tariffs are the greatest!" and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

Trump tweeted from the White House that U.S. trade partners need to either negotiate a "fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It's as simple as that."

The president has engaged in hardline trading negotiations with China, Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate trade agreements he says have undermined the nation's manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades. The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. trading partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.

And the president has already put tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports in a separate dispute over Beijing's high-tech industrial policies. Trump has threatened to ratchet that up to more than $500 billion, a move that has left financial markets uneasy. Beijing's retaliatory tariffs have hit American soybeans and pork.

Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday that the U.S. is a "'piggy bank' that's being robbed." He noted that countries "that have treated us unfairly on trade for years" are coming to Washington to negotiate.

The president is meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president's tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.</s>Trump threatens more tariffs on US trading partners

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that "Tariffs are the greatest!" and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

Trump tweeted from the White House that U.S. trade partners need to either negotiate a "fair deal, or it gets hit with Tariffs. It's as simple as that."

The president has engaged in hardline trading negotiations with China, Canada and European nations, seeking to renegotiate trade agreements he says have undermined the nation's manufacturing base and led to a wave of job losses in recent decades. The imposition of punishing tariffs on imported goods has been a favored tactic by Trump, but it has prompted U.S. trading partners to retaliate, creating risks for the economy.

Trump has placed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, saying they pose a threat to U.S. national security, an argument that allies such as the European Union and Canada reject. He has also threatened to slap tariffs on imported cars, trucks and auto parts, potentially targeting imports that last year totaled $335 billion.

And the president has already put tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese imports in a separate dispute over Beijing's high-tech industrial policies. Trump has threatened to ratchet that up to more than $500 billion, a move that has left financial markets uneasy. Beijing's retaliatory tariffs have hit American soybeans and pork.

Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday that the U.S. is a "'piggy bank' that's being robbed." He noted that countries "that have treated us unfairly on trade for years" are coming to Washington to negotiate.

The president is meeting with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday. The U.S. and European allies have been at odds over the president's tariffs on steel imports and are meeting as the trade dispute threatens to spread to automobile production.
The White House announces $12 billion in bailouts for farmers and ranchers affected by recently imposed retaliatory tariffs.