EU delays retaliatory tariffs on US goods in hopes of August 1 deal
'This is now the time for negotiations,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday, after President
Donald Trump sent a letter announcing new
tariffs of 30 per cent on goods from the EU and Mexico starting on August 1.
The EU – America's biggest trading partner and the world's largest trading bloc – had been scheduled to impose 'countermeasures' starting on Monday at midnight Brussels time. The EU negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries.
Von der Leyen said those countermeasures would be delayed until August 1, and that Trump's letter shows 'that we have until the first of August' to negotiate. European leaders have urged Trump and von der Leyen to give negotiations more time.
'We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution,' she said. If they can't reach a deal, she said 'we will continue to prepare countermeasures so we are fully prepared'.
US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the 50th World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos in 2020. Photo: Reuters
Standing alongside Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, von der Leyen said the trade tensions with the US show the importance of 'diversifying our trade relationships'.
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