“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary is urging President Trump to agree to a “zero-for-zero” tariff deal proposed by the European Union, billing it as a “huge opportunity” that will lead to a “beautiful outcome.”
“It’s all Euro right now because this is the test case right here. I think this is a really huge opportunity for Trump to find an off-ramp here in the administration because it’s not Vietnam, that’s not big enough, but EU has a huge aspect that is so important, and that’s on automotive,” O’Leary said Monday on Fox Business.
“Because if you think about how restricted it’s been in Germany alone or in Switzerland or France about getting U.S. cars into those markets, they’ve been so punitively oppressed with tariffs, and they’re willing to wipe those out,” the Canadian entrepreneur told host Stuart Varney.
The European Commission presented a deal to the U.S., pitching a removal of tariffs on industrial items and expressing willingness to negotiate with Washington following Trump’s rollout of sweeping tariffs last week.
“This is a major turning point for the United States,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday. “Nonetheless, we stand ready to negotiate with the United States.”
“We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods — as we have successfully done with many other trading partners — because Europe is always ready for a good deal, so we keep it on the table,” she added while stressing the trading bloc would retaliate if the talks go nowhere.
Trump announced a 20 percent tariff on imports from the EU last week, which is set to take effect Wednesday among other tariffs.
O’Leary argued that a deal with the EU would allow financial markets to stabilize after dropping across the board following Trump’s tariffs being unveiled.
“And the Eurozone has been brought to its knees. It’s willing to go zero-zero and open its markets up. And that’s the key, Stuart. The idea that you would open up the markets and set the path for every other negotiation of the other 59 countries, whether it’s penguin islands or whatever, it doesn’t matter,” O’Leary said Monday.
“This is the opportunity. This is the moment. And if [White House senior trade adviser Peter] Navarro sees it that way and advises Trump and whether [Commerce Secretary Howard] Lutnick sees it, but that’s what the market’s holding on to right now. The volatility is going to remain extreme.”
O’Leary added that “this Eurozone deal is the beginning of a beautiful outcome, if you want to put it that. Then you get to say to everybody, look, it was a lot of volatility, but I got us there … That’s where I think the opportunity lies.”
