Trump says 50% tariff on European Union delayed until July
/ CBS/AP
President Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will delay implementation of a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union from June 1 until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the bloc.
That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who had told Mr. Trump that she "wants to get down to serious negotiations," according to the president's retelling.
"I told anybody that, they have to do that," Mr. Trump told reporters on Sunday in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington. Von der Leyen, Mr. Trump said, vowed to "rapidly get together and see if we can work something out."
In a social media post Friday, Mr. Trump had threatened to impose the 50% tariff on EU goods, complaining that the 27-member bloc had been "very difficult to deal with" on trade and that negotiations were "going nowhere." Those tariffs would have kicked in starting June 1.
The announcement, along with threatened tariffs on Apple products, sent the stock market tumbling Friday.
"Just when markets believed the worst of the tariff battle had been overcome, President Trump threatened a 50% tariff against the EU this week, starting on 1 June, and a possible 25% tariff on iPhones produced abroad. This could all be a negotiating tactic, but the uncertainty caused by this back-and-forth is not good for global growth or markets," Klaus Baader, an analyst with SG Securities, told investors in a report.
But the call with von der Leyen appeared to smooth over tensions, at least for now.
"I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so," Mr. Trump said on Truth Social shortly after he spoke with reporters on Sunday evening.
For her part, von der Leyen said the EU and the U.S. "share the world's most consequential and close trade relationship."
"Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively," she said. "To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9."
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