WASHINGTON — European Union Ambassador to the United States Jovita Neliupšienė told Breitbart News exclusively in a lengthy interview last week that relations between Europe and the United States are going the “right direction” under the leadership of U.S. President Donald Trump and E.U. Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.

“I think that they are going the very right direction because we had a meeting of Commission President Von der Leyen and President Trump in Scotland, in D.C., and on the margins of the NATO summit as well,” Neliupšienė said in the interview at the headquarters of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States in downtown Washington last week. “So I think that it’s really pretty clear that there are a lot of issues to be discussed. We have the most developed trade and investment relations. We have security alliances working. And I think that we are closer value-based allies than you can find around the world.”

Part of the strength of the relationship between the two, Neliupšienė said, is that Trump seems to respect Von der Leyen’s ability to deliver what she promises.

“Well, I think that the idea that first of all the Commission president is the one responsible for implementing our trade policy,” Neliupšienė said when asked about how the two of them get along personally. “So the European Union, and it’s a European competence, so the Commission negotiates on the behalf of the member states. So the trade relations are so huge. Of course, the one who is negotiating is an important person so I think that—but she’s very competent as a person. She is really, really very personal. I think that maybe resonates with the President, with President Trump. If I may guess, from media, from what you report, he likes the people who actually have their things in their hands and can deliver. I think this is where they meet. This is where the understanding comes. President Trump several times repeated publicly that she is a big boss. She’s a strong leader. I think we are seeing that they see each other not only for bilateral meetings but on different occasions. The last one was actually in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. Leaders are humans as well.”

This summer in Scotland, Trump and Von der Leyen announced a massive trade deal between the U.S. and the E.U. while Trump was at his golf club Turnberry—and the next morning Breitbart News interviewed Trump there while he awaited the arrival of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump told Breitbart News at the time that the deal was a “great deal for both” the U.S. and the E.U., and now that it is being implemented by both sides Neliupšienė told Breitbart News it is the largest trade deal between any two entities anywhere in the world and represents anywhere from 35 to 45 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP).