FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The European Union’s chief trade negotiator said Monday he had “good calls” with Trump administration officials and the EU was “fully committed” to reaching a trade deal by a July 9 deadline, after Trump agreed to delay his threatened 50% tariff — or import tax — on European goods.
Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on X that the EU’s executive commission was pushing “at pace” towards an EU-U.S. deal and the two sides were in constant contact.
Sefcovic’s calls with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer came a day after Trump said he would delay implementation of the 50% tariff from June 1 until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the 27-country EU.
READ MORE: U.S. delays threatened 50% tariff on the European Union until July, Trump says
That announcement came after Trump’s call with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who told Trump that she “wants to get down to serious negotiations,” according to the U.S. president on Sunday.
In a social media post Friday, Trump had threatened to impose the 50% tariff on EU goods, asserting that the bloc had been “very difficult to deal with” on trade and that negotiations were “going nowhere.”
The stakes are high given the size of the U.S.-EU trading relationship. Although the trade partners don’t have a free trade agreement like the one the U.S. has with Mexico and Canada, some $1.8 trillion in goods and services cross the Atlantic in both directions each year.
READ MORE: A timeline of Trump’s tariff actions so far
EU Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho told a news conference that von der Leyen and Trump agreed to “fast-track” the negotiations. The result of the call means that “there is a new impetus for these negotiations, and we will take it from there … from our side, we always said we were ready to make a deal.”
The EU has offered Trump a “zero for zero” deal in which tariffs would be removed on industrial goods including automobiles, but the U.S. administration has said it will not lower tariffs below a 10% baseline imposed on almost all its trading partners. Trump has also announced tariffs of 25% on steel and automobiles.
