“HAND REMAINS OUTSTRETCHED”
EU trade ministers are set to meet Monday in Brussels to discuss the bloc’s response to Trump’s latest move – and crucially how strong a line to take with Washington.
Germany’s finance minister Lars Klingbeil said on Sunday that “serious and solution-oriented negotiations” with the United States were still necessary, but added that if they fail, the European Union would need “decisive countermeasures to protect jobs and businesses in Europe”.
“Our hand remains outstretched but we won’t accept just anything,” Klingbeil told daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
That came after French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday urged the European Commission – which negotiates on behalf of all EU countries – to “resolutely defend European interests”.
Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has unleashed sweeping stop-start tariffs on allies and competitors alike, roiling financial markets and raising fears of a global economic downturn.
But his administration is coming under pressure to secure deals with trading partners after promising a flurry of agreements.
So far, US officials have only unveiled two pacts, with Britain and Vietnam, alongside temporarily lower tit-for-tat duties with China.
The European Union, alongside dozens of other economies, had been set to see its US tariff level increase from a baseline of 10 per cent on Jul 9, but Trump pushed back the deadline to Aug 1.
In a letter published on Saturday, Trump cited the United States’ trade imbalance with the bloc as justification for the new 30 per cent levies.
The EU tariff is markedly steeper than the 20 per cent levy Trump had unveiled in April – before hitting pause as markets went into meltdown.
Source: CNA
