Key points
- US president grants extension request
- European Commission chief says EU will move rapidly
ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump backed away on Sunday from his threat to slap 50 per cent tariffs on imports from the European Union next month, agreeing to extend the deadline until July 9 for talks between Washington and the 27-nation bloc to produce a deal.
Trump on Friday said he was recommending a 50 per cent tariff go into place on June 1 because of frustration that talks with the EU were not moving quickly enough, according to Reuters.
The threat roiled global financial markets and intensified a trade war that has been punctuated by frequent changes in tariff policies toward US trading partners and allies.
Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension on the June 1st date, and she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey.
“I agreed”
“And I agreed to do that,” he added.
Good call with @POTUS.
The EU and US share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship.
Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.
To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) May 25, 2025
Von der Leyen had earlier said on X that she held a “good call” with Trump, but that “to reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” said the president of the European Commission, which conducts trade policy for the 27-nation bloc.
Brussels and Washington have been negotiating in a bid to avert an all-out transatlantic trade war, and had agreed to suspend tariff action on both sides until July.
But Trump’s threat on Friday dramatically raised the stakes.
The US leader said Friday he was “not looking for a deal” with the EU, repeating his oft-stated view that the bloc was created to “take advantage” of the United States.
“Serious negotiations”
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil separately on Sunday called for “serious negotiations” with Washington, saying he had spoken with his US counterpart Scott Bessent about the matter.
“We don’t need any further provocations, but serious negotiations,” Klingbeil, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor, told Bild newspaper.
“The US tariffs endanger the US economy just as much as the German and European economy,” Klingbeil warned.
According to AFP, Trump has hit the bloc with three sets of tariffs: 25 per cent on steel and aluminium and on automobiles, followed by a 20-percent “reciprocal” levy on all imports — which has been suspended pending talks, though a baseline 10 percent remains in force.
“Mutual respect, not threats”
The EU’s trade chief Maros Sefcovic, who held talks with his US counterparts on Friday, responded to Trump’s latest outburst by saying the bloc was “committed to securing a deal” but that trade ties should be based on “mutual respect, not threats”.
Brussels has announced plans to hit US goods worth nearly 100 billion euros ($113 billion) with tariffs if negotiations fail to produce a deal.
