President Donald Trump speaks at a dinner for Republican Senators on the White Home in Washington, DC, on July 18, 2025.
Picture by Allison Robbert/For The Washington Put up through Getty Photos
The U.S. has signaled it is not going to let up on its Aug. 1 deadline for increased tariffs on the European Union because the bloc fights to strike a deal in time.
Over the weekend, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick mentioned he was assured a commerce deal may very well be struck with the European Union, however warned that the deadline for a baseline 30% tariff is fastened.
“That is a tough deadline, so on August 1, the brand new tariff charges will are available,” Lutnick mentioned Sunday on CBS Information when requested in regards to the deadline for his EU tariffs.
He did sign that talks might proceed after this date, nonetheless, noting: “These are the 2 largest buying and selling companions on this planet, speaking to one another. We’ll get a deal executed. I’m assured we’ll get a deal executed.”
“Nothing stops international locations from speaking to us after August 1, however they are going to begin paying the tariffs on August 1,” he added.
The EU has mentioned it’s getting ready retaliatory measures in opposition to the U.S. if punitive commerce tariffs are imposed. Lutnick dismissed the potential for the EU concentrating on gadgets like Boeing airplanes and Kentucky bourbon, nonetheless, saying, “they’re simply not going to try this.”
Final-ditch talks to succeed in a commerce settlement are ongoing, with the EU hoping it may possibly negotiate a decrease tariff charge. The bloc had hoped it might strike an identical pact to the U.Ok., which was the primary nation to make a commerce settlement with the U.S. That deal features a 10% baseline tariff with some caveats referring to automotive, metal and aerospace imports.
However economists and analysts have change into more and more skeptical about Brussels’ capacity to agree on an identical framework.
For one, the EU has a a lot trickier relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump than the U.Ok. does. Trump has often bemoaned what he sees as an imbalanced commerce relationship and unfair buying and selling practices, which the EU denies.
Based on the European Council, complete commerce between the EU and U.S. amounted to 1.68 trillion euros ($1.96 trillion) in 2024. Whereas the EU ran a commerce surplus in the case of items, it recorded a deficit in companies. Total, the bloc had a surplus of round 50 billion euros final 12 months, when each items and companies are taken into consideration.
Final Friday, the Monetary Occasions reported that Trump was pushing for a minimal tariff of 15% to twenty% on EU imports in any take care of the bloc. The president was additionally reportedly pleased to maintain duties on the auto sector at 25%, a transfer that will harm automotive exporters in Germany notably arduous.
Temper change in Europe
The White Home’s seemingly harsher stance towards Brussels has prompted policymakers to think about how they’ll reply to a 30% tariff, which might be a steep hike from the present 10% obligation that got here into impact in April.
One EU official advised CNBC that there was a transparent shift in temper relating to the bloc’s potential response amongst all EU member states, besides Hungary, whose chief, Viktor Orban, is a Trump ally.
The bloc’s potential countermeasures in opposition to the U.S. embrace levies on imports from the U.S. price 21 billion euros, that are presently on pause till Aug. 6. The European Fee has additionally ready a second spherical of potential tariffs concentrating on commerce price 72 billion euros.
Imports starting from clothes to agricultural merchandise and food and drinks gadgets may very well be affected.
In the meantime, the Wall Road Journal and Bloomberg reported that an rising variety of EU member states have signalled their help for the bloc deploying its anti-coercion instrument. That is the EU’s strongest commerce instrument, which might give the European Fee broad powers to take retaliatory motion in opposition to the U.S.
— CNBC’s Matthew Ward-Perkins contributed to this report.
