EU-US trade deal: As Donald Trump’s tariff threat looms, European Union wants to strike a deal - the faster, the better

The European Union believes “better” to reach a trade deal with the United States, the bloc’s economy chief said on Tuesday.

EU officials have been locked in intense negotiations with their American counterparts in a bid to prevent steep levies from coming into force, measures that could seriously damage Europe’s economy.


"The faster we can reach the agreement, the better, because that would remove uncertainty surrounding these tariff questions and indeed we see that it is weighing on the economy and also on investment decisions of the companies," EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in Brussels on Tuesday.

Although Trump signed an order on Monday formally extending the July 9 deadline to August 1, Brussels is still hoping to secure an agreement this week.

"We have been working with this ninth of July deadline in mind, but as I outlined, as it seems, the US have now postponed in a sense this deadline to first of August, so that gives us a bit more time, but from our side we remain concentrated," Dombrovskis added.

According to EU diplomats speaking to AFP, the European Commission, responsible for trade talks on behalf of the 27-member bloc, expects the US to retain a baseline 10% tariff on EU goods, while granting exemptions for key sectors such as aircraft, spirits and cosmetics.

The Commission has been lobbying for steel tariff exemptions after Trump introduced a 25% levy, but Washington has so far refused to make any concessions.

As part of the negotiations, an EU diplomat said the agreement could include a pledge to relocate a portion of European car production, particularly from Germany, to qualify for tariff exemptions.

If no agreement is reached, the US could double the default tariff on EU imports to 20% or higher, as the US president previously floated the possibility of a 50% rate.