German Chancellor Friedrich Merz believes that an agreement to settle the EU-US trade dispute could be reached in the near future. He expressed this opinion to journalists before a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron in Berlin.
„We are meeting at the right time because we have some very pressing issues to discuss, including the current trade policy, on which, as we are hearing at the moment, decisions can be taken“, Merz said. „But we will also talk about the common foreign and security policy“, he added.
Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the EU and the US were close to concluding an agreement that would impose a 15% tariff on European imports. According to the newspaper, the agreement is similar to the deal with Japan announced by US President Donald Trump and involves the introduction of reciprocal tariffs of the aforementioned amount. At the same time, the parties, as specified in the publication, will agree not to impose tariffs on certain products, such as aircraft, strong alcoholic beverages and medical equipment.