EU Still Hopes for Initial U.S. Trade Deal Before Deadline

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‘We’re fully geared up to get an agreement in principle by Wednesday,’ a European Commission spokesperson says. - sergei gapon/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The European Union is still hoping to secure a bare-bones trade deal with the U.S. by July 9 after President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that tariffs on U.S. trading partners will revert back to their April rates next month.

“We are continuing to work towards the deadline of the 9th of July and in that sense, political and technical level contact between the EU and U.S. continues,” Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Commission, said on Monday.

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The commission, which is in charge of leading trade talks for the European Union as a whole, is racing to clinch a deal with the U.S. before July 9, when an original pause on Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs expires. Treasury Secretary Bessent said Sunday that countries that fail to reach a trade deal with the U.S. will see tariffs kick in on their exports to the country from Aug. 1.

Gill said that “substantial progress” was made on securing an agreement in principle with the U.S. after the EU’s trade commissioner, Maros Sefcovic, flew to Washington D.C. for talks with his counterparts. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also had a call with Trump on Sunday, he said, adding that the pair had a “good exchange.”

“We’re fully geared up to get an agreement in principle by Wednesday and we’re firing on all cylinders to that effect,” he said.

Write to Edith Hancock at [email protected]