[Report] According to Bloomberg and the Ukrainian National News Agency (UNN) on the 11th, both the US and Europe are striving to reach a temporary trade agreement in the coming days. However, insiders revealed that the key sticking point in negotiations is the tariffs on automobiles and agricultural products. Insiders also warned that any potential agreement between the US and Europe could be overturned by President Donald Trump.
Bloomberg quoted insiders saying that the EU seeks to keep agricultural product export tariffs below 10%. Additionally, the EU negotiators will focus on car tariffs. Some car manufacturers had previously pushed for a “compensation mechanism” – where companies investing in the US would receive tariff exemptions – but this plan has not been considered due to concerns from the EU side that it might lead to production relocating to the US.
The aforementioned insiders also warned that any agreement depends on Trump’s decision, so the outcome of the negotiations and any potential agreement could be overturned by him.
The report mentioned that since negotiations are still ongoing, the European Commission has declined to comment on the current state of negotiations.
Currently, the US imposes a 50% tariff on steel and aluminum products from the EU, a 25% tariff on automobiles, and a 10% base tariff on almost all other goods. Trump had previously threatened to impose a 50% tariff on EU goods if there was no breakthrough in trade negotiations by July 9th. In response, the EU had decided to impose up to 50% tariffs on US imports totaling 21 billion euros. However, as a way to give time for the trade negotiations, this retaliatory measure was postponed until July 14th. Moreover, the EU is considering a second set of countermeasures, initially planned at a scale of 95 billion euros. However, EU diplomats familiar with the situation stated that under lobbying from several EU member states, this scale has now been reduced to 72 billion euros.
Trump’s tariff policies have impacted the global economy.