Mike Pompeo wraps up Brussels trip

Top US diplomat seeks 'reset' with EU yet Trump tweet disparages the bloc

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped a two-day visit to Brussels on Tuesday aimed to "reset" a fast deteriorating relationship, but the transatlantic divide is growing wider on many critical issues.

In Brussels, Pompeo met new European Parliament President David Sassoli as well as three incoming leaders: Ursula von der Leyen, the next president of the European Commission; Charles Michel, the next president of the European Council; and next top EU diplomat, Josep Borrell. The three will take office in the coming months.

Pompeo did not meet outgoing EU leaders such as European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk and EU foreign policy chief Federica Morgherini.

A European Commission spokeswoman did not comment on the meetings at daily briefings. The US State Department released a brief statement, saying Pompeo and Van der Leyen "reaffirmed that a strong US-EU partnership is critical to prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world".

"The two expressed a shared commitment to working together on a broad range of global issues," said the statement.

US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland described the trip as "solely and exclusively to see the four leaders with the objective of resetting our relationship", according to Reuters.

"Our relationship had reached multiple impasses on multiple fronts and resulted in a lot of uncomfortable, cranky conversations," Sondland said, adding that US President Donald Trump had endorsed the trip.

But the words were immediately followed by Trump's tweet on Tuesday, saying those who want him to "get together with the EU and others to go after China trade practice remember, the EU & all treat us VERY unfairly on Trade also. Will change!"

The transatlantic relations have taken a dramatic downturn since Trump took office in January 2017. Trump's decisions to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal have shocked EU leaders, who see the landmark deals as their major achievements on global stage.

The US and the EU are also risking a trade war. Both have threatened punitive tariffs on each other over aircraft subsidy row involving Boeing and Airbus.

While they reached a deal last month to boost US beef export to Europe, Trump has indicated that additional tariffs on European cars are never off the table, an especially disturbing message to EU's largest economy Germany, which is a major car exporter to US and experiencing an economic slowdown.

Trump has also threatened to slap punitive tariffs on French wines if France goes ahead with the digital services tax that targets tech giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.

At the G7 summit in France late last month, Tusk, the European Council president, vowed that EU will "respond in kind" if Trump punishes French products. He said the EU "will protect French wine with genuine determination" and "France can count on our loyalty".

Besides opposing Trump's "America First" unilateralism and protectionist trade policy, EU leaders are angry at Trump's support for Brexit and no-deal Brexit and his disdain for the EU as an institution.

In its memos made public on Tuesday to the new EU leadership, Bruegel, a leading European think tank based in Brussels, said "the US has become a less reliable partner than it was five years ago and some even doubt how strongly it will defend liberal democracy".

It said while the EU is traditionally closer to the US, the Trump administration's rejection of multilateralism has made the EU uncomfortable with the US position, and has opened the door to closer political relations with China, which has assumed the mantle of multilateralism, according to the memos compiled by the think tank's scholars who are meeting in Brussels on Sept 4-5 for their annual meeting.