Donald Trump said Sunday that he had a “very nice call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and he has agreed to delay his threatened 50 percent tariff until July 9 at her request.
The EU wants to negotiate, Trump said:
That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who had told Trump that she "wants to get down to serious negotiations," according to the U.S. president's retelling.
"I told anybody that would listen, they have to do that," Trump told reporters on Sunday in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington. Von der Leyen, Trump said, vowed to "rapidly get together and see if we can work something out."
The president had taken a different tone toward the EU in recent days:
In a social media post Friday, 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.
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. The Commission President said that talks will begin rapidly. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he wrote on the above Truth Social media post.
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Von der Leyen, meanwhile, also called it a “good call” as she lauded the relationship between America and the EU. The partners "share the world's most consequential and close trade relationship," she said.
"Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively," she said. "To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9."
Trump's concerns are over the trade imbalance with the EU and other countries:
Trump has taken a particular issue with “non-monetary trade barriers,” as he has repeatedly called them, as well as countries or trading blocs that run trade deficits with the United States. Those occur when the US purchases more from another trading partner than that country purchases from the US.
Last year, the United States ran a $236 billion trade deficit with the EU, according to US Commerce Department data.
Although the media and the Democrats have near-daily panic attacks over Trump’s tariff strategy, virtually none of their most dire predictions have come true, and in fact many of the players involved have taken a seat at the bargaining table. Anything can happen, but if I were a betting man, I’d wager that the EU and the U.S. come to an agreement by July 9.
We’ll see.
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