Not because of Trump's tariffs, rather a response to the very substantial risk of an unconscionable, uncontrolled all out trade war. That Trump started this ain't to his credit, but the net result is pretty much that two years on we're back to where the US (read: Obama) was with the TTIP.
We're not quite back to where we started. The tariffs have created a political backlash that may have consequences for the Republican Party in the November congressional elections. That's what yesterday's White House announcement was really about.
China is shifting soybean purchases from the United States to Brazil in retaliation for Trump's first round of tariffs. The Trump Administration is under intense pressure from Republican members of Congress representing agricultural states to do something about that, and is preparing to hand out $12 billion in government agricultural subsidies to help the farm states cope with the short-term effects of what may be the long-term loss of a critical market. Meanwhile, in what appears to be an offer to help Trump save face, the Europeans have agreed in principle to buy more soybeans from the United States.
The Trump Administration is also under intense pressure from representatives of the U.S. automobile industry to lift the steel and aluminum tariffs, which have increased their supply-chain costs. These remain in place, but will be part of a general trade negotiation with the European Union which will include the continuation of the discussions that have been taking place for years about the possibility of eliminating the parties' respective tariffs on automobiles. Meanwhile, in what appears to be yet another offer to help Trump save face, the Europeans have agreed to consider buying liquid natural gas from the United States when terminals become available (years from now) if the price is competitive with imports delivered through Russian pipelines.
So my reading of yesterday's announcement is that (1) the Trump Administration is trying to placate important domestic political and commercial interests by agreeing to reconsider its new tariffs while it pumps money into states with nervous Republican congressional delegations and (2) the Europeans are providing Trump with a pretext to claim a symbolic "victory" in return for which they actually aren't offering anything substantial that they weren't prepared to offer before.
