European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, who is also the EU's chief negotiator with the US, said last night that he had held "good talks" with representatives of US President Donald Trump's administration and that the EU was "fully committed" to reaching a trade deal by the July 9 deadline after Trump agreed to postpone the imposition of 50 percent tariffs on imports of European goods, the Associated Press reported, BTA reported.
Šefčovič wrote on the social network "Ex" that the European Commission was moving "fast" towards a deal between the EU and the US and that the two sides are in constant contact.
The European Commissioner's talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer took place a day after Trump said he would delay the implementation of 50% tariffs from June 1 to July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the EU.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on EU goods, saying the bloc was "very difficult to deal with" on trade and that the talks are "going nowhere."
Although Brussels and Washington do not have a free trade agreement like the one between the United States, Mexico and Canada, about $1.8 trillion in goods and services cross the Atlantic in both directions each year.
The EU has offered Trump a "zero-for-zero" deal that would eliminate tariffs on industrial goods, including cars, but the U.S. administration has said it will not reduce tariffs below the 10% base rate imposed on almost all of its trading partners. Trump has also announced 25% tariffs on steel and cars, the AP recalls.