Von Der Leyen Says EU Will Be Ready If US Trade Talks Break Down

2u5ow8mvfy1t05zl0hterqx]_media_dl_1.png US Census Bureau

Article content

(Bloomberg) — The European Union is prepared for all eventualities in its trade negotiations with the US, including for a breakdown in talks, Ursula von der Leyen said, after discussing the latest proposals from the Trump White House with the bloc’s leaders. 

Article content

The European Commission president said at a press conference in the early hours of Friday that her team is still assessing the latest US tariff offer.

Article content

Article content

Article content

“We are ready for a deal. At the same time we are preparing for the possibility that no satisfactory agreement is reached,” she said. “In short, all options remain on the table.”

Article content

Article content

The question dogging the leaders and the commission, which handles trade matters for the EU, is whether to accept an asymmetrical trade deal with the US or to strike back, risking escalation and the ire of the US president.  

Article content

At a summit meeting in Brussels that began Thursday, several member states argued against retaliation. Most suggested that a quick deal with the US is better than holding out for a perfect one, even if that means that many of Trump’s tariffs remain in place, according to two people briefed on the discussions. 

Article content

The EU needs to reach an agreement with Trump by July 9, when levies on nearly all of the bloc’s exports to the US increase to 50%. The US president says the EU takes advantage of US with its goods surplus and perceived barriers to American trade.

Article content

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he’d stressed that deadline to fellow leaders in Brussels, urging them to reach a solution quickly now to remove the threats hanging over key industries.

Article content

Article content

“We have less than two weeks,” he said. “You can’t agree a sophisticated trade agreement in that time.”

Article content

Paris, however, rejects the idea of accepting any deal skewed in favor of the US and pushed for a complete removal of tariffs, another official said. French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after the summit that a quick deal is preferable — but only so long as it is “balanced.”

Article content

“The best tariff deal with the US would be zero to zero,” Macron said, insisting that if the US decides to keep 10% tariffs, the bloc would have to respond. “Otherwise we would be naive, or weak, or both,” he said. “And we are neither.”

Article content

Detailed discussions with the US are taking place on both tariffs and non-tariff barriers, as well as on key sectors, strategic purchases and regulatory matters the EU is hoping to address through its simplification agenda, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

Article content

The US is asking the EU to make what the bloc’s officials see as unbalanced and unilateral concessions, Bloomberg reported earlier. Discussions on critical sectors — such as steel and aluminum, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors and civilian aircraft — have been particularly difficult.