WASHINGTON (Reuters) – EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday he was “moderately optimistic” that the European Union and the United States could resolve their dispute over tariffs on steel and aluminium.

Former U.S. president Donald Trump imposed the tariffs on imports from the EU on grounds of “national security” and, even with a change of president, they remain in place.

European Commission vice-president Dombrovskis said that the EU and U.S. were in intensive talks and that he would hold discussions on the topic with senior U.S. officials on Tuesday.

“So I think that we can be moderately optimistic about being able to resolve this dispute and find this solution and not continue this Trump-era approach of confrontation,” he told an audience at John Hopkins University in Washington.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop in Brussels, editing by Robin Emmott)