Trump Extends Deadline for 50% Tariffs on EU Goods to July 9
President Donald Trump said he would extend the deadline for the European Union to face 50% tariffs to July 9 after a phone call with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We had a very good phone call and I agreed to postpone it,” Trump told reporters Sunday at Morristown Airport in New Jersey on his way back to Washington.
Von der Leyen, who heads the European Union’s executive arm, said earlier Sunday in a post on X that “Europe is ready to move forward quickly and decisively,” but that a “good deal” would take “until July 9.” That was the date Trump’s 90-day pause on his so-called reciprocal tariffs was originally set to end. The EU had scheduled tariffs of 20% based on the reciprocal tariffs announced in April, and the temporary pause lowered the tariffs to 10% until July 9.
But Trump on Friday threatened to impose higher tariffs, as high as 50%, on the European Union starting June 1, complaining that the bloc was dragging its feet in negotiations and unfairly targeting U.S. companies with lawsuits and regulations.
U.S. equity index futures rose in early Asian trading after Trump’s comments. The dollar fluctuated after falling on Friday to its lowest since December 2023.
The European Union has struggled to understand what Trump is seeking in trade negotiations. Officials have suggested that the EU and the U.S. could lower their tariffs to zero on many goods, but Trump has focused on what he calls non-tariff trade barriers. Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender said on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures hours earlier that the U.S. faces a “simultaneous challenge” of negotiating with the EU as a tariff bloc while also trying to address most of those non-tariff barriers in talks with individual European countries, creating “negotiating problems.” The new EU framework includes tariffs and non-tariff barriers, as well as ways to boost economic security, joint investment, strategic purchasing and cooperation on global challenges, according to people familiar with the matter who requested anonymity to discuss the terms, which are not public. Trump’s threat of 50% tariffs would hit $321 billion in U.S.-EU trade in goods, reduce U.S. gross domestic product by nearly 0.6% and raise prices by more than 0.3%, according to calculations by Bloomberg Economics.
The U.S. president has said he wants to use tariffs to encourage companies to build factories in the U.S. rather than abroad to make goods. On the same day he announced the threat of 50% EU tariffs, he also threatened 25% tariffs on smartphones made abroad by companies such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
But on Sunday, Trump said he agreed with recent comments by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the U.S. does not need to bring textile manufacturing back to its borders. "We don't want to make sneakers and T-shirts, and we want to make military equipment," Trump said, adding he wanted to make "big things" in the U.S., citing chips, computers and AI development.
Source: Bloomberg
