Illustration of flags in the United States and EU
The European Union and the United States are close to reaching a trade agreement that would satisfy both parties, but the twenty-seven will continue to prepare countermeasures in the event of a failure of negotiations, European Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Monday.
“We continue to dialogue with the American administration and prioritize a negotiated solution before the new deadline on August 1,” said the European Commissioner before a meeting of the EU trade ministers in Brussels.
“The feeling on our side is that we are very close to an agreement,” he continued, while recalling that the twenty-seven must prepare for all the eventualities, “including, if necessary, proportionate and well-studied countermeasures to restore balance”.
Maros Sefcovic stressed that the 30% customs duties that US President Trump threatens to impose on the EU as from August 1 would amount to voiding trade between the two blocks.
While the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced Sunday that the countermeasures of the EU would not come into force before August 1, the Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, said that the twenty-seven would remain united on the subject.
“We have to prepare to use all the available tools,” he said before a meeting with his European counterparts in Brussels. “When we want peace, we have to prepare for war. And I think we are there.”
(Report by Phil Blenkinsop and Milan Strahm, written by Bart Meijer; French version Tangi Salaün, edited by Augustin Turpin)
