President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner for Republican Senators on the White Home in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2025.
Photograph by Allison Robbert/For The Washington Put up through Getty Photographs
The U.S. has signaled it won’t let up on its Aug. 1 deadline for larger tariffs on the European Union because the bloc fights to strike a deal in time.
Over the weekend, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned he was assured a commerce deal might be struck with the European Union, however warned that the deadline for a baseline 30% tariff is fastened.
“That is a tough deadline, so on August 1, the brand new tariff charges will are available,” Lutnick mentioned Sunday on CBS Information when requested in regards to the deadline for his EU tariffs.
He did sign that talks might proceed after this date, nevertheless, noting: “These are the 2 greatest buying and selling companions on the earth, speaking to one another. We’ll get a deal completed. I’m assured we’ll get a deal completed.”
“Nothing stops international locations from speaking to us after August 1, however they’ll begin paying the tariffs on August 1,” he added.
The EU has mentioned it’s getting ready retaliatory measures in opposition to the U.S. if punitive commerce tariffs are imposed. Lutnick dismissed the opportunity of the EU focusing on gadgets like Boeing airplanes and Kentucky bourbon, nevertheless, saying, “they’re simply not going to do this.”
Final-ditch talks to achieve a commerce settlement are ongoing, with the EU hoping it may negotiate a decrease tariff fee. The bloc had hoped it might strike an analogous pact to the U.Okay., which was the primary nation to make a commerce settlement with the U.S. That deal features a 10% baseline tariff with some caveats regarding automotive, metal and aerospace imports.
However economists and analysts have turn into more and more skeptical about Brussels’ potential to agree on an analogous framework.
For one, the EU has a a lot trickier relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump than the U.Okay. does. Trump has ceaselessly bemoaned what he sees as an imbalanced commerce relationship and unfair buying and selling practices, which the EU denies.
In response to the European Council, complete commerce between the EU and U.S. amounted to 1.68 trillion euros ($1.96 trillion) in 2024. Whereas the EU ran a commerce surplus in relation to items, it recorded a deficit in providers. Total, the bloc had a surplus of round 50 billion euros final 12 months, when each items and providers are taken into consideration.
Final Friday, the Monetary Instances reported that Trump was pushing for a minimal tariff of 15% to twenty% on EU imports in any cope with the bloc. The president was additionally reportedly completely happy to maintain duties on the auto sector at 25%, a transfer that might harm automotive exporters in Germany significantly onerous.
Temper change in Europe
The White Home’s seemingly harsher stance towards Brussels has prompted policymakers to think about how they may reply to a 30% tariff, which might be a steep hike from the present 10% obligation that got here into impact in April.
One EU official advised CNBC that there was a transparent shift in temper concerning the bloc’s potential response amongst all EU member states, besides Hungary, whose chief, Viktor Orban, is a Trump ally.
The bloc’s potential countermeasures in opposition to the U.S. embody levies on imports from the U.S. value 21 billion euros, that are at present on pause till Aug. 6. The European Fee has additionally ready a second spherical of potential tariffs focusing on commerce value 72 billion euros.
Imports starting from clothes to agricultural merchandise and foods and drinks gadgets might be affected.
In the meantime, the Wall Avenue Journal and Bloomberg reported that an growing variety of EU member states have signalled their help for the bloc deploying its anti-coercion instrument. That is the EU’s strongest commerce instrument, which might give the European Fee broad powers to take retaliatory motion in opposition to the U.S.
— CNBC’s Matthew Ward-Perkins contributed to this report.
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