Brussels is now trying to strike the right balance between keeping negotiating lines open and ensuring retaliation is still seen as a credible threat. This was on full display over the weekend, when the EU executive, which coordinates trade on behalf of the EU’s 27 member states, delayed the implementation of a first package of countermeasures, while inching forward on a second raft of retaliatory tariffs on around €72 billion of U.S. exports.
“The feeling on our side was that we are very close to an agreement. We have been negotiating this agreement in principle for weeks,” the trade commissioner stressed, adding that Brussels and Washington were still negotiating on tariffs imposed on steel and aluminum as well as cars.
“I appreciate, though, that I was getting the heads-up just before the letter was coming,” he said.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Spanish Minister of Trade Carlos Cuerpo cautioned that the EU should not be too confrontational.
“We are in a scenario of pushing for a deal with the United States, and I think the rest of the major trading partners are in a similar situation,” he said.
“I believe that this is not the time to talk about creating a common front, but rather about how to move forward in these negotiations and make progress in contact with our partners in order to deepen trade relations with them.”
Jakob Weizman contributed to this report.
