EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič extended an olive branch to Washington on Wednesday, two days after the U.S. president was sworn in. He told POLITICO that Brussels was ready to talk with the new Washington administration — despite the repeated threats that Trump has made to hit the 27-nation bloc with tariffs.

U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to address a longstanding trade deficit with the European Union, saying he will reverse that by imposing tariffs or making the EU buy more U.S. oil and gas.

Any EU offer to buy more US goods should be backed up by a credible threat to retaliate robustly if Trump goes ahead with tariffs. If there is a full-blown trade war, the EU will have retaliatory tariffs ready: a “negative list” of US products drafted to mirror Trump’s proposed tariffs could serve as a deterrent.

President Donald Trump widened his tariff threats to include China and the European Union on his second day back in office after day one saw Canada and Mexico in his sights.