On July 27th, local time, US President Donald Trump met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland. In the context of trade negotiations with the EU, Trump stated that both the US and the EU are keen on fairness, with August 1 being the final deadline for all trade agreements except steel and aluminum.
Trump mentioned that there is a significant chance for the US and the EU to resolve their issues, with an agreement being reached at a 50% probability, likely to be known within an hour. Trump noted that the European market is very closed.
During an interview on July 27th, US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross indicated that the US would not extend the tariff extension until August 1. Ross stated that the goal of the US-EU negotiations is to open up markets for US exports by the EU, and Europe needs to reach an agreement with the US as well. Ross pointed out that the current issue is whether the agreement provided by the EU is sufficient to persuade Trump to abandon his threat of imposing tariffs at 30%.
Previously, leaders from the EU and several European countries have expressed that if an acceptable trade agreement cannot be reached with the US before the effective date of US tariff measures on August 1, the EU will take retaliatory measures against US tariffs. A spokesperson for the European Commission, Olaf Scholz, stated on July 23rd that retaliatory measures would begin to take effect on August 7th, should negotiations break down. (Xu Tao)