Kevin O’Leary Calls On Trump To Take This ‘Off-Ramp’ Amid Tariff Turmoil

Kevin O’Leary

The “Shark Tank” investor and Trump ally spotted a “really great opportunity” for the president to avoid further escalating his trade wars.

“Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary on Monday stressed that President Donald Trump should agree to the European Union executive commission’s proposal of “zero-for-zero” tariffs on industrial goods and cars amid chaos fueled by Trump’s “Liberation Day” announcement.

“I think this is a really huge opportunity for Trump to find an off-ramp here in the administration,” said O’Leary — who has cozied up to the president since his election win — in an appearance on Fox Business.

On Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed the “zero-for-zero” offer at a press conference where she declared that the EU stands “ready to negotiate” with the U.S., while not ruling out countermeasures in response to Trump’s tariffs push.

Trump, despite public support for the EU’s proposal from Republican allies, later told reporters in the Oval Office that the offer wasn’t enough to do away with his sweeping 20% tariffs on imported goods from the EU.

O’Leary, in a social media post, wrote that the EU’s offer is the president’s chance to “show how it’s done and set the tone for every future negotiation.”

In his Fox Business appearance, O’Leary turned to automotive trade with European nations to argue that Trump should take the offer.

“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,” he argued.

He later continued, “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. This is the opportunity. This is the moment.”