BERLIN (Reuters) -German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday that he would pursue a deal under which U.S. cars could be imported into Europe duty free in exchange for tariff waivers on the same number of vehicles exported to the United States.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says he found President Donald Trump open to discussion and is convinced that Washington remains committed to the NATO alliance

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz successfully navigated a 40-minute meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office without falling victim to the public humiliation the American president has doled out to other leaders — even though both Germany and Europe are two of Trump’s perpetual irritants.

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period while shrinking the economy, raising the inflation rate and reducing the purchasing power of households overall.

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed significantly in April as President Donald Trump sharply escalated tariffs before pausing a large swath of the levies, U.S. Commerce Department data on Thursday showed.

Even before Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2nd, the median estimate among the 48 who were surveyed by the University of Chicago’s business school was that Mr Trump’s levies would raise inflation in 2025 by 0.

President Donald Trump said U.S. and Chinese teams will meet shortly after he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed trade in a phone call on Thursday, adding that there "should no longer be any questions" on rare earth products.

China and the U.S. have agreed to more tariff talks amid a trade standoff and concerns over rare earths, President Donald Trump said Thursday after a call with China's leader. Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke on Thursday at a time when stalled tariff negotiations between their two countries have roiled global trade.

News of the call came as new data showed U.S. goods imports dropped significantly in April as sweeping tariffs rolled out.