EU to try to reach agreement with US to avoid new tariffs

European Union ministers agreed on Monday to prioritize negotiations with the United States to avoid threatened 30% tariffs that the EU trade chief said would wreck transatlantic trade, Reuters writes.

To remind, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would impose 30% tariffs on most EU imports from Aug. 1.

European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said he had sensed that talks with U.S. counterparts were approaching “a good outcome for both sides” but the new tariff threat had created “a new dynamic.”

A 30% tariff rate would make it almost impossible to continue trading as before, with enormous consequences for supply chains and negative impacts on both sides of the Atlantic.

“And therefore I think we have to do, and I will definitely do, everything I can to prevent this super-negative scenario,” Sefcovic told reporters before a meeting of EU ministers to discuss trade.