European MP Marietje Schaake on US-EU trade talks, China challenges

Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images

US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (L) met in Washington in July 2018.

Trust between the U.S. and the European Union is at an “all-time low,” a European lawmaker said Wednesday after both sides failed to find common ground on trade.

American and European trade representatives met in Washington last week in an attempt to iron out their differences on trade. But talks hit a stalemate after both sides couldn’t agree on details that involve the EU buying more U.S. agricultural products, reported CNN.

The U.S. under President Donald Trump has been at odds with the EU.

Last year, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on European cars and raised levies on steel and aluminum imports from Europe.

“Trust is really at an all-time low,” Marietje Schaake, a member of the European parliament, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“The EU is very clear that we want to have rules-based trade, we want to strengthen the multilateral system and we think it is to our mutual benefit to have the U.S. as a partner here,” she added. “But President Trump clearly has other ideas. He believes in a more protectionist, nationalist agenda and it’s hard to deal with because we don’t really know what we can discuss there.”