The European Union and US made scant progress bridging trade differences this week as officials from President Donald Trump’s administration indicated that the bulk of the US tariffs imposed on the bloc will not be removed.
The EU’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, left the meeting with little clarity on the US stance, struggling to determine the American side’s aims, according to people familiar with the discussions. He met for about two hours with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington Monday.
The US officials indicated that the 20% “reciprocal” tariffs — which have been reduced to 10% for 90 days — as well as other tariffs targeting sectors including cars and metals would not be removed outright, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Trump announced a sweeping array of tariffs this month in his bid to reorder the global trading system, bring manufacturing jobs back to the US and raise revenue to pay for a tax-cut extension. His administration has also moved forward with plans to impose semiconductor and pharmaceutical imports with duties. All of Trump’s new tariffs are hitting around €380 billion ($566.37 billion) of EU goods.
European bonds pared declines after the report, with the yield on 10-year German notes up two basis points on the day to 2.53% after rising to as much as 2.55% right before the news. The Stoxx Europe 600 index trimmed its gains after the news.
Spokespeople for the office of the US Trade Representative and the Commerce secretary didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the European Commission declined to comment.
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The EU agreed last week to delay for 90 days the implementation of a set of counter-tariffs against the US over 25% duties Trump imposed on the bloc’s steel and aluminium exports. The move came after the US president lowered his so-called reciprocal rate on most EU exports for the same amount of time.
The EU has said that its measures, which target around €21 billion of US goods, will snap into place after the 90 days if negotiations don’t yield satisfactory results. The bloc is already working to prepare more counter-measures in the event of that scenario materialising. In parallel, it is rushing to conclude trade deals with countries around the world and improve the functioning of its single market.
While US officials have suggested that the sectoral measures had to stay, some of the tariffs on cars could be offset by increasing investments, production and exports from the US, the people said. They speculated, however, that there was no stopping the levies from getting increased in the future should US exports not get a boost.
See also: Trump warns tariffs are coming for electronics after reprieve
The EU has offered that both sides remove all tariffs on industrial goods, including cars. The US has so far rejected that proposal.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the EU, the US’s largest trading partner when counted as a bloc, saying it was formed to “screw” the US and that the bloc’s trade-in-goods surplus is evidence of an unfair relationship. The EU’s trade weighted average tariff rate was 2.7% in 2023, according to World Trade Organization data.
The US would like to see European chemical firms produce more precursors used in the pharmaceutical industry in the US, integrate supply chains, have preferential procurement and suggested the bloc should increase the price of its medicines, the people said.
US Vice President JD Vance has previously said that Europe pays less for many of its drugs because Americans are subsidizing its healthcare.
On steel and aluminum, as well as potential future levies on copper, the US wants the EU to come forward with a proposal, while floating the possibility of common tariffs, according to the people. They said it wasn’t clear whether some of the ideas floated had wider backing within the administration but noted several were not compatible with WTO rules.
The commission has been working on a “term sheet” of potential areas for negotiation, including lower tariffs, regulations and standards, Bloomberg previously reported.
The EU has also proposed increasing purchases of liquefied natural gas from the US, but Trump officials have so far shown little appetite in exploring that route as an alternative to tariffs.
They have insisted on discussing what the US perceives as non-tariff barriers such as digital and artificial intelligence regulations as well as food standards, the people said. Discussions between the two sides will continue at a technical level.
