No breakthrough on EU trade, as US prepares to inform countries of tariff rates
There has been no immediate breakthrough in the EU-US trade negotiations, according to the EU’s trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, while Donald Trump plans to start sending letters informing trading partners of their tariff rates as soon as today.
In a message posted on social media, Mr Šefčovič said he was returning to Brussels after talks with his US counterparts in Washington DC and that negotiations would continue.
Negotiators have until 9 July to strike a deal or risk an escalating trade war.
Mr Šefčovič and his team had been in Washington DC meeting the US trade secretary Jamieson Greer, as well as treasury secretary Scott Bessent and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.
In the early hours of this morning, he announced on social media that he was wrapping up what he called a productive week of work and was heading back to Brussels.
While providing no further detail on whether a deal was close, he added that the work continued. Our goal remains unchanged and is “a good and ambitious transatlantic trade deal”.
Yesterday at the launch of the Danish Presidency of the EU, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen confirmed that the best that could be hoped for ahead of next Wednesday’s deadline was an agreement in principle, given that a normal free trade agreement between such huge trading blocs would take much longer than the deadline provided for.
Mr Trump has threatened to hike tariffs on European goods to 50% if there is no deal.
The European Commission is understood to have accepted that there could be a 10% baseline tariff on EU exports and has been pushing for multiple carve outs and exemptions for key sectors such as aviation, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.
The US President said he plans to start sending letters informing trading partners of their tariff rates as soon as today.
“My inclination is to send a letter out and say what tariff they’re going to be paying,” he told reporters on last night.
“It’s just much easier.”
So far, the Trump administration has only unveiled deals with the UK and Vietnam, while Washington and Beijing agreed to temporarily lower staggeringly high levies on each other’s products.
Speaking last night on US television, treasury secretary Scott Bessent was non committal, saying the US will “see what we can do”, when asked about a trade deal with the European Union.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Simon Harris is in Berlin to meet with his new German counterpart Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul.
Their discussions will focus on the efforts to secure an EU-US Trade Deal, the current situation in the Middle East, Ukraine, defence and security, as well as European competitiveness and the next EU budget.
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