BERLIN, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Senior German policymakers on Thursday urged the European Union (EU) member states to maintain a united front against the protectionist policies of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Speaking to the radio station "Deutschlandfunk", the EU commissioner for budget and human resources and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician Guenther Oettinger warned that Trump was pursuing a strategy of "divide and rule." If Washington succeeded in driving EU governments apart, the bloc would be "significantly weakened" and fail to defend its interest in swelling trade conflicts.

By contrast, Oettinger argued, a united EU possessed strong economic leverage as one of the world's largest markets. The EU commissioner said that continental policymakers should not allow themselves to become a "junior partner" to the U.S., but instead should insist on preserving a partnership on equal footing.

The CDU politician predicted that a "limited, small Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP)" could still be signed successfully if Washington refrained from threats to impose punitive tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU. Under such an agreement, both parties could work towards a fair and mutual reduction of trade barriers.

Speaking during a meeting of EU heads of state in Bulgaria, German chancellor and CDU leader Angela Merkel similarly highlighted that Berlin remained open to discuss means of a "reciprocal" reduction in tariff- and non-tariff barriers with Washington. However, such an outcome was only possible if the U.S. offered the EU a permanent rather than temporary exclusion from threatened steel and aluminium tariffs.

Merkel further emphasized that the EU shared a unified stance in condemning Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear accord. While the agreement signed in 2015 was not perfect, it remained her view that it offered a useful and necessary basis for good relations with Teheran.