EU and US agree to fast track trade talks after phone call
The European Commission has said that President Ursula Von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump have agreed to fast track trade negotiations and to stay in close contact following last night’s phone call.
Mr Trump has said he would pause his threatened 50% tariffs on the European Union until 9 July, after a “very nice call” with Ms von der Leyen.
Commission spokesperson Paula Pinho told reporters: “In terms of what were the details of the discussions we will not enter into that, but what I can say is, we are talking about, of course, the world’s single largest and closest trade relationship.
“These negotiations are complex, and so they are taking time now with this call. There’s now also a new impetus for the negotiations, and we will take it from there.
“It’s positive to see that there’s engagement at the level of the presidents and from our side, we always said that we are ready to make a deal.”
The Commission said there was a negotiating team in place led by trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič who is due to speak by phone with the US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick this afternoon.
On Friday, Mr Trump threatened to impose the steep tariffs as soon as 1 June, saying talks with the EU over his previous levies were “going nowhere”.
Ms von der Leyen “just called me and she asked for an extension on the 1 June date, and she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”, Mr Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey.
“And I agreed to do that,” he added.
Ms von der Leyen had earlier said on X that she held a “good call” with Mr Trump, but that “to reach a good deal, we would need the time until 9 July”.
“Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” she said.
The EU and the United States have been negotiating in a bid to avert an all-out transatlantic trade war, and had agreed to suspend tariff action on both sides until July.
But Mr Trump’s threat on Friday dramatically raised the stakes.
The US leader said he was “not looking for a deal” with the EU, repeating his oft-stated view that the bloc was created to “take advantage” of the United States.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin welcomed last night’s phone call between Ms von der Leyen and Mr Trump.
Speaking at the Global Economic Summit in Killarney, Co Kerry, Mr Martin said that it was “absolutely important” that the EU and the US agree a “realistic and reasonable deal”.
Call for ‘serious negotiations’
German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil separately called for “serious negotiations” with the US, saying he had spoken with his US counterpart Scott Bessent about the matter.
“We don’t need any further provocations, but serious negotiations,” Mr Klingbeil, who is also Germany’s vice chancellor, told Bild newspaper.
“The US tariffs endanger the US economy just as much as the German and European economy,” Mr Klingbeil warned.
Mr Trump has hit the bloc with three sets of tariffs: 25% on steel and aluminium and on automobiles, followed by a 20% “reciprocal” levy on all imports – which has been suspended pending talks, though a baseline 10% remains in force.
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, who held talks with his US counterparts on Friday, responded to Mr Trump’s latest outburst by saying the bloc was “committed to securing a deal” but that trade ties should be based on “mutual respect, not threats”.
The EU has announced plans to hit US goods worth nearly €100 billion with tariffs if negotiations fail to produce a deal.
The US trade deficit in goods with the European Union was $236 billion in 2024.
But when taking account of services, where US firms are dominant, the European Commission calculates that the US trade deficit stood at €50 billion.
EU and US remain far apart on tariffs – EU trade spokesperson
Meanwhile, the European Commission spokesperson for Economic Security and Trade said the EU and US remain quite far apart in their tariff negotiations but the distance is not unbridegable.
Olof Gill said if Mr Trump’s statement last night was the launch pad for the two sides to get down to brass tacks and bridge that gap in a meaningful way, then they are ready to do that.
“We have been in direct sit-down, face-to-face talks with the Americans on several occasions, where we’re trying to move this thing forward in good faith and with energy that hasn’t happened yet. If yesterday now signals a change on the other side of the Atlantic, we welcome that, and we’re ready to talk,” Mr Gill said.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said the EU wants to ignore background noise and move forward.
“We want to ignore all the bluster going on in the background, we are ready to talk and that has always been the case.”
Mr Gill said the EU has presented what it believes is a “very, very good basis for negotiation where both sides can derive benefit and companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic could get real gains”.
The top priority of the European Commission is to have a laser focus on competitiveness and completing the single market, he added.
Additional reporting AFP
Article Source – EU and US agree to fast track trade talks after phone call – RTE
