Trump sets a July 4 deadline for the EU to agree on the trade deal

Donald Trump has set a July 4 deadline for the EU to give final consent to the trade deal reached last summer or face “much higher levels” of tariffs.

The trade deal under discussion would see the EU cut tariffs to zero on industrial and agricultural goods in exchange for a 15% tariff on most US exports.

In a post on Social Truth, the US president said he had a “good phone call” on Thursday night with Ursula von der Leyen. “I agreed to give it until our country’s 250th birthday or, unfortunately, their rates would immediately jump to much higher levels,” he has written.

“I have been waiting patiently for the EU to deliver on its side of the Historic Trade Deal we agreed in Turnberry, Scotland, the biggest trade deal ever!” he also posted in the message. “A promise was made that the EU would deliver its side of the Agreement and, under the Agreement, reduce their tariffs to ZERO!”

Von der Leyen, for her part, admitted that the EU remains “fully committed” to the implementation of the agreement. “Good progress is being made towards the reduction of fees until the beginning of July”, she said has written on social media.

“It will pass in June,” said a senior Parliament official.

EU negotiators – diplomats representing 27 national governments and MEPs – failed to catch a deal on Wednesday night, on the sticking point of steel tariffs already raised to 50% since the deal, and what to do if the US deviates further from the original agreement.

Bernd Lange, a German Social Democrat who is the chief negotiator in Parliament, is under great pressure to finalize the deal.

“He likes to drag it out as long as humanly possible,” the Parliament official said. “He likes to be the story.”

German MEP Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right force in the European Parliament, threatened to end negotiations and call a plenary vote if no deal was reached this week. He did not immediately follow through on that threat Thursday.

Now Weber is asking for the next round of negotiations to be brought forward from May 19 to May 12, two EPP sources said. Euractiv.

“It is infantile to go on longer and longer and get into deeper trouble with the Americans,” said Željana Zovko, the EPP’s chief negotiator in Parliament. Euractiv. “We are pushing ourselves into a trade war,” the Croatian MEP said.

“This is not about Trump, it’s about our trade with the US and saving our businesses,” she added, calling on Lange to be “brave”.

Hours before Trump posted on Social Truth, Lange said Euractiv that “technical teams” were checking the feasibility of moving forward with the next round of negotiations until May 12.

UPDATE: This article has been updated to include Ursula von der Leyen’s comment.

(eng, cs)