EU trade ministers meet in Brussels on Monday after US President Donald Trump declared 30% tariffs on the EU will start 1 August, meanwhile German leaders joined other European leaders on Sunday advising a calm approach to the continuing trade negotiations.
The ministers will meet to discuss trade with the US and China during the first of a two-day Foreign Affairs Council convening in the Belgian capital.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump posted a new set of letters to his social media platform Truth Social, making the 30% declaration in respect of the EU and Mexico, a move that could cause massive upheaval between the United States and two of its biggest trade partners.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen quickly responded by noting the bloc’s “commitment to dialogue, stability, and a constructive transatlantic partnership.”
“We have always been very clear that we prefer a negotiated solution. This remains the case, and we will use the time that we have now till the 1st of August,” she said during a press conference on Sunday. “We’ve prepared for this, and we can respond with countermeasures if necessary.”
Von der Leyen also said that the the EU will suspend retaliatory tariffs on US goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz adopted a sanguine tone in the media telling national broadcaster ARD on Sunday that he had spoken to von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron and Trump on Friday and they agreed to attempt seeking a deal over the next two weeks.
Merz said negotiations were advanced and underlined that other countries that have received similar letters – including China and Canada – have usually found reasonable solutions.
“Nobody needs new threats or provocations right now. What we need is for the EU to continue serious and focused talks with the US,” the country’s finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, told Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Other European leaders joined von der Leyen in urging Trump to give negotiations more time and warnings of possible new tariffs on Washington.
“With European unity, it is more than ever up to the Commission to assert the Union’s determination to resolutely defend European interests,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement posted on X.
Italy’s Meloni cautions not to trigger a trade war
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s office said “it would make no sense to trigger a trade war between the two sides of the Atlantic.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen told broadcaster DR that Trump was taking a “pointless and a very shortsighted approach.” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson warned in an interview with the country’s public broadcaster SVT that “everyone loses out from an escalated trade conflict, and it will be US consumers who pay the highest price.”
Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof wrote on X that the announcement “is concerning and not the way forward.”
Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin said on Saturday that the tariffs represent a “setback”, adding that levies are “not sustainable and tenable”. During his remarks, Martin also mentioned that the European Union has countermeasures on the table, but “it doesn’t want to have to deploy and would prefer a negotiated approach”.
