President Donald Trump said he would extend the deadline for the European Union to face 50% tariffs until July 9 after a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it,” Trump told reporters Sunday on his way back to Washington.
The EU had been slated for a 20% tariff under those reciprocal rates announced in April.
But Trump on Friday threatened to impose a higher, 50% tariff on the EU after complaining the bloc was slow-walking negotiations and unfairly targeting US companies with lawsuits and regulations.
The EU last week shared a revived trade proposal with the US in a bid to boost talks, and the bloc’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, held a call with his US counterpart, Jamieson Greer, on Friday.
Trump’s latest tariff threat would hit $321 billion worth of US-EU goods trade, lowering US gross domestic product by close to 0.6% and boosting prices by more than 0.3%, according to Bloomberg Economics calculations.
