Donald Trump has walked back from his threat to tear up part of the US trade deal with the European Union by hiking tariffs on car imports. The US president has given the EU until 4 July to implement its side of the agreement, reducing tariffs to zero on most American imports, warning that the bloc would face "much higher" tariffs if it did not comply.
"I've been waiting patiently for the EU to fulfill their side of the Historic Trade Deal we agreed in Turnberry, Scotland, the largest Trade Deal, ever!" Trump posted on Truth Social. The Fourth of July holiday this year marks 250 years since the American colonies declared independence from British rule.
Trump said he had spoken to the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, about the issue and "agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels." This climbdown came a day after six hours of formal ratification talks in Brussels between MEPs, member states, and the European Commission.
On Thursday, Trump's latest 10% global tariffs were ruled illegal by the US trade court. The temporary rate, flowing from a 1974 trade law, is due to expire at the end of July and was imposed after the supreme court ruled in February that the president's "liberation day" tariffs were illegal. However, the tariffs will remain in place as the US administration's expected appeal plays out.
The EU has been pressing Trump to honour the deal he struck at his Scottish golf course last summer despite the supreme court ruling. But the European parliament has twice suspended the ratification process because of Trump's threat to take over Greenland and to increase tariffs.
The German MEP Bernd Lange, chair of the European parliament trade committee which led the parliamentary delegation in the ratification talks this week, indicated that a deal was close. On Thursday, he said MEPs would work "expeditiously" to ensure the "spirit and the letter" of the deal, while the EU trade commissioner, Maroš Šefčovič, said "considerable progress" was made with the next EU "triologue" talks scheduled for 19 May.
It is understood that MEPs are pushing for inclusion of steel in the deal with exports to the US taxed at 50%, something Šefčovič's team have sought since last July. Von der Leyen said on Thursday that the bloc had made "good progress" towards ratifying the deal by early July. "We remain fully committed, on both sides, to its implementation," she added on X.
The 27-member EU bloc and the US struck a deal last July, setting tariffs on most European goods at 15%. But Trump has been dissatisfied at the speed of its implementation. As the deal still awaits signoff by EU member states, Trump vowed last week to raise duties on EU cars and trucks to 25%, accusing the bloc of failing to hold up its side of the bargain.
Cyprus, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, said it wanted to maintain "positive momentum" at talks with MEPs on 19 May. Despite conditional approval by the European parliament, the deal must be negotiated with EU states before it can be implemented by the bloc.
