According to a report by the American “Beast Daily” and Politico on July 4th, U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross opted for “early departure,” leaving Washington ahead of the trade talks with his family on vacation, and delegated Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to take over the negotiations.
Sources revealed that Ross originally planned to meet with EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Cecilia Malmström, on July 3rd, but he has now left Washington in advance to vacation with his family in Italy.
Trump and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ross (right).
Mnuchin, who was appointed to attend the meeting on behalf of the U.S. Treasury Department, stated that he met with the EU because President Trump had suspended the so-called “reciprocal tariffs” measures, which were set to expire on July 9th. Trump had previously promised to reach a “90-day agreement on 90 trade deals” within this deadline.
In response to a statement from Politico, the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Commerce defended Ross’ actions: “He has been working tirelessly for the American people and plans to return to Washington this weekend. The trade deal announced earlier this week between President Trump and Vietnam proves that Secretary Ross is still fighting for a fair competition environment for American workers.”
On April 2nd this year, Trump announced a 10% base tariff on EU goods and threatened to increase the tariffs to 50% if a new agreement could not be reached before July 9th.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated on July 3rd that it would be “impossible” to negotiate a detailed trade agreement in such a short time frame due to the scale and complexity of the EU-U.S. trade.