European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will meet President Donald Trump in Washington next week in a last-ditch attempt to avert a new round of tariffs on European car imports.

“President Juncker and President Trump will focus on improving transatlantic trade and forging a stronger economic partnership,” the commission said in a statement Tuesday. The talks will take place Wednesday July 25.

Trump has ordered a probe into whether imports of cars and car parts damage national security—a similar strategy his administration used to levy duties on steel and aluminum from the EU—and has proposed a 20 percent tariff on imported autos. Juncker is seeking to tamp down the brewing conflict a month after the 28-nation bloc imposed levies on 2.8 billion euros ($3.3 billion) of American imports due to the metal tariffs. The Stoxx 600 Automobiles & Parts Index is down 9 percent this year.

Juncker will seek assurances from Trump that the U.S. is open to an agreement with the bloc that would avoid unilateral American tariffs on car imports, according to a person with knowledge of EU preparations.

The EU will use Juncker’s meeting to work out how to proceed, with member states divided, said the person, who asked not to be named because the preparations are private. Germany, which shipped 640,000 cars to the U.S. last year, is eager to negotiate a solution with Trump while French officials consider the auto tariffs are a foregone conclusion.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a July 5 speech that the EU could reduce car tariffs as part of a broad free-trade agreement, which would have to include about 90 percent of commerce between the two regions. Alternately, the EU and U.S. could lower duties, which would apply to all other World Trade Organization partners, she said.

‘Fake News’

Juncker’s visit comes after Trump singled out the bloc as a “foe” of the U.S, in comments highlighting the increasing strain in trans-Atlantic ties. Since Trump’s election, the pillars of the West have parted ways in many key areas of policy, including the Paris agreement on climate change, the Iran nuclear accord, and the Middle East peace process.

Even as the EU’s executive arm has angered Washington by imposing levies on iconic American brands such as Harley Davidson and Levi’s jeans, its flamboyant head has refrained from personal attacks on the U.S. president, thus keeping channels of communication open. In contrast, EU Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs the meetings of the bloc’s leaders, has been among the harshest critics of Trump.

“America and the EU are best friends,” Tusk said last week. “Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.”

The EU isn’t allowed under global rules to reduce its 10 percent tariff on American cars unless it either does so for WTO members as a whole or reaches a bilateral accord with the U.S. that covers “substantially all” two-way trade.

Earlier, when the EU unsuccessfully sought a permanent waiver from Trump’s metals tariffs imposed in March, the bloc said it was willing to start negotiations with the U.S. on a relatively narrow trade deal focused on eliminating tariffs on industrial goods including cars. That offer went nowhere, according to European officials.