The European Union agreed to accelerate negotiations with the United States to avoid a transatlantic trade war, and only signaled the block a few days after President Donald Trump criticized the USA and slowly talking.
“There is now a new impetus for the negotiations,” said Paula Pinho, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, on Monday, one day after the representative, President Ursula von der Leyen, talked to Trump by phone, “they both agreed to quickly pursue the trade negotiations and stay in close contact.”
After the call, Trump extended the deadline to reach the EU with 50% tariffs by more than a month to July 9th to enable more negotiations. “We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it,” Trump told reporters on Sunday.
The previous talks have been dealt with with a variety of problems without a clear way to find a middle ground that is both appeased. The Europeans have complained that it is not clear what the United States want or even speak for the American president, and the United States said that the EU is aiming on US companies with lawsuits and regulations.
The EU’s head of trading, Maros Sefcovic, should speak to the US Minister of Trade Howard Lutnick on Monday. The EU ambassadors should also hold a meeting at the last minute on Monday to discuss the latest developments with the Commission.
The US and European Equity index futures climbed together with Asian stocks on Monday. The dollar fluctuated after falling his lowest level since December 2023.
Trump’s tariff threat from Trump would achieve the US-EU goods trade worth $ 321 billion, reduce gross domestic product in the USA by almost 0.6% and, according to Bloomberg Economics calculations, increase prices by more than 0.3%.
After a first exchange of papers, the USA declined A last week A Supposing sent by the Commission, which takes over trade issues on behalf of the 27 Member States of the EU. The EU had offered to remove the tariffs for industrial goods together, to increase access for some American agricultural products and to develop the AI calculation centers together, reported Bloomberg.
While the EU said that its priority is to find a negotiated solution in the United States, it also prepares to clear retribution if necessary.
The EU has approved the tariffs for € 21 billion (23.9 billion US dollars) US goods in response to Trump’s metal taxes that can be implemented quickly. They aim at politically sensitive American states and include products such as soybeans from Louisiana, home spokesman Mike Johnson as well as agricultural products, poultry and motorcycles.
The block also prepares an additional list of tariffs for € 95 billion of American products. These measures, which react to Trump’s “mutual” taxes and automotive tasks, would aim at industrial goods, including Boeing Co. Airplanes, US made cars and bourbon.
Some Member States have pushed cool minds when the tariff is approaching. German Minister of Economic Affairs Katherina Reiche said that the EU and the United States have to “calm down” before the talks.
“We have to find similarities. That has to be the goal,” said Reiche on Monday at a Handelsblatt event in Heilbronn. At the same time, the United States has to understand that tariffs have also injured it, she said. “There are still six weeks to find a solution,” said Reiche.
This story was originally on Fortune.com