U.S. President Donald Trump announced Sunday he’s granting an extension to the EU on the timeline to strike a deal to avoid his sweeping 50 percent tariffs — punting back the deadline to July 9.
Trump’s announcement comes after a phone call with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The tariffs were set to take effect at the beginning of June. “I agreed to the extension — July 9, 2025 — It was my privilege to do so. The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The European Union now is facing the same 10 percent tariff rate as other countries, but that is scheduled to rise to 20 percent in early July if a deal is not reached within Trump’s previous 90-day deadline.
Von der Leyen said Sunday that they had a “good call” but that the EU would need until July to broker a good deal with Trump. She shared optimism on pushing negotiations forward to make the deadline.
“The EU and the U.S. share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship,” she wrote on X. “Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.”
The EU has taken a sterner tone in recent days when discussing the state of negotiations with the American president.
The European Commission “remains ready to work in good faith. EU-US trade is unmatched & must be guided by mutual respect, not threats. We stand ready to defend our interests,” EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič said Friday in a post on social media, following a call with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Brussels expected to discuss the EU’s latest offers it sent last week during Friday’s call and hear back on a potential meeting between Šefčovič and Greer set for early June in Paris. But Trump’s latest threat cooled the prospects of a fruitful discussion.
