By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The European Union says the 27-member bloc is committed to securing a trade deal with the US based on “respect”, not “threats”.
Heritage Times HT had reported that the US President, Donald Trump, threatened to slap a 50% tariff on all goods shipped into the US from the EU and a 25% tariff on iPhones not manufactured in the US.
“The EU’s fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both,” EU Trade Commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, said after a call with US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, and Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick.
He added, “EU-US trade is unmatched & must be guided by mutual respect, not threats. We stand ready to defend our interests.”
Trump had earlier on Friday expressed impatience with the pace of ongoing EU-US trade negotiations, saying his plan to raise tariffs on 1 June remains.
Writing on social media, Trump said: “Our discussions with [the EU] are going nowhere,” adding that there would be no tariffs for products built or manufactured in the US.
“I’m not looking for a deal – we’ve set the deal,” he told reporters later, before adding that a big investment in the US by a European company might make him open to a delay.
The EU is one of Washington’s largest trading partners, sending more than $600bn (€528bn; £443bn) in goods last year and buying $370bn worth, US government figures show.
Reacting to Trump’s threats, European governments warned that higher tariffs would be damaging to both sides.
“We do not need to go down this road,” said Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Micheál Martin. “Negotiations are the best and only sustainable way forward.”
France’s Trade Minister, Laurent Saint-Martin, said: “We are maintaining the same line: de-escalation, but we are ready to respond.”
German Economy Minister, Katherina Reiche, said the bloc “must do everything” to reach a solution with the US.
Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, told reporters that he backed the EU’s strategy in trade talks and “we have seen before that tariffs can go up and down in talks with the US”.
Trump, in April, announced what he called “reciprocal tariffs” on goods from countries around the world.
The EU is negotiating with the US as a bloc, though Stephen Moore, a former economic adviser to Trump who works for conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, told the BBC: “What may happen in Europe… is that we may try to negotiate individually with countries in Europe.”
He added that, in his opinion, Trump’s “ultimate aim is really to decouple not just the US but the whole world from Chinese influence, which would be a very good thing if he could pull that off”.
The EU has threatened but later paused its own measures against the US. It said it would introduce a 25% tariff on €18bn worth of US goods coming into Europe, but this has been put on hold.
Trump blames the trade deficit on policies that he claims are unfair to American companies, and he has specifically raised concerns about policies related to cars and agricultural products.
