It is an important day. The leaders of the European Union, gathered at the Summit in Brussels, must indicate this Thursday, June 26 to the European Commission this Thursday, if they want to quickly conclude a commercial agreement with the United States, at the expense of more favorable conditions in Washington, or if they wish to harden the confrontation with the hope of obtaining more.
At this stage, most EU leaders seem to rely for a quick agreement, because the block could try to adopt measures to rebalance their trade with the United States, according to officials and diplomats.
The commission, which negotiates trade agreements on the name of the EU, will ask the leaders of the 27 Member States gathered in Brussels how they want to respond to the deadline of July 9, in less than two weeks, set by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, for the conclusion of an agreement.
The EU previously stated that she was pointing to a mutually beneficial agreement, but since Washington seems to want to keep her customs duties of 10% in most of her products and threatens to raise them if the negotiations extend, an increasing number of block countries is now favorable to a rapid resolution, according to European diplomats.
“I know that the European Commission is negotiating with great caution in this regard and that it has all our support. I hope we reach a solution with the United States in early July,” he added, after having considered before the EU strategy was “too complicated.”
A majority seeks appeasement
The EU already faces the tasks of US customs of 50% in steel and aluminum, 25% in cars and spare parts, as well as similar samples of 10% in most of its other products, which Donald Trump threatened to increase 50% in absence of agreement.
The only commercial agreement concluded by the United States to date has been with Great Britain, with customs duties of 10% still in force.
American officials claim that no commercial partner will see their customs duties fall. While some 23 leaders will arrive in Brussels directly after the NATO summit in The Hague, few of them will want to follow the agreement to increase the annual defense expenses of the alliance countries, they concluded the day before, of an economic war.
The question remains if the EU must answer for its own measures to this base by 10%. “We are also prepared for this possibility with a series of options,” said Friedrich Merz.
Possible reprisals
The EU has decided to impose customs duties in 21 billion euros on American products, without applying them. Although a series of additional taxes that can affect up to 95 billion euros in US imports are currently discussed, some member states are favorable to relaxation.
Among the options is a digital advertising tax that would affect American giants such as Google, Meta, Apple, X or Microsoft and reduce the commercial surplus of the United States with the EU in the field of services. The EU has a commercial surplus with the United States in the field of goods.
Source: BFM TV
