Merkel calls for EU-U.S. trade talks in phone call with Trump

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called for talks on trade policy between the European Union and the United States in a telephone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.

File photo of Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel. [Photo: VCG]

"The Chancellor called for a dialogue process between the European Union and the United States of America on trade policy, taking into account the rules-based international trade system," German government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

The United States has decided to grant a temporary exemption to the European Union and six other economies from the steel and aluminum tariffs signed off by Trump earlier this month.

Despite widespread dissent from business groups and trading partners around the world, Trump signed proclamations two weeks ago to impose a 25-percent tariff on imported steel and a 10-percent tariff on aluminum, which took effect last Friday.

Merkel and Trump reaffirmed the desire for continued close cooperation between the two governments, according to Seibert.

In light of Salisbury's nerve gas incident, Merkel and Trump underscored their solidarity with Britain, according to Seibert's statement. 

Britain blamed Russia for the incident but Russia denied. The United States, Germany, France and some other European countries and NATO have followed Britain in expelling Russian diplomats as retaliation.