EU delays retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, hoping to trade on August 1 – Country
The EU will suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods that will take effect on Monday, hoping to reach a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of this month.
“It’s time to negotiate,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday.
The EU – the largest trading partner of the United States and the world’s largest trading group – plans to impose “countermeasures” starting Monday’s Brussels time (6pm EDT). The EU negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member states.
Von der Leyen said the countermeasures would be postponed until August 1, with Trump’s letter showing “we must go until August 1”. European leaders urged Trump and von der Leyen to give more time to negotiate.
“We have always been clear that we prefer negotiating solutions,” she said. If they cannot reach an agreement, she said, “we will continue to prepare countermeasures so that we can be fully prepared.”
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Von der Leyen, standing with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, said that U.S. trade tensions show that “diversifying our trade relations.”
Trump said his global tariffs would lay the foundation for restoring the U.S. economy that he claimed had been deprived of for decades by other countries. In a letter to the EU, Trump said that the U.S. trade deficit is a national security threat.
U.S. trading partners face months of uncertainty and threats from Trump’s tariffs, sometimes extending or changing deadlines. Tariffs may have an impact on almost every aspect of the global economy.
According to the EU’s Statistics Office Eurostat, the value of EU trade in goods and services is 1.7 trillion euros ($2 trillion) in 2024, with an average of 4.6 billion euros per day. Europe’s largest exports to the United States are medicines, cars, aircraft, chemicals, medical devices, as well as wine and spirits.
Trade ministers of EU countries plan to meet on Monday to discuss trade relations with the United States and China.
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