BRUSSELS, May 5 (Reuters) – The European Union’s trade chief has urged the United States to swiftly restore the tariffs agreed in last year’s EU-US trade deal, the European Commission said on Tuesday.
The Commission added that it would be beneficial if the main terms of that deal were in place ahead of its one-year anniversary at the end of July.
Maros Sefcovic met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Paris on Tuesday, with U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to increase tariffs on EU cars and trucks to 25% among the EU’s main concerns.
The Commission said the two men had held a one-and-a-half hour discussion on the most pressing aspects of the trade agreement. Trump says he is hiking car tariffs because the European Union is not complying with the deal’s terms.
The EU executive said Sefcovic had updated Greer on the likely timeline for the EU to implement the removal of EU duties on imported U.S. industrial goods, as the two sides agreed last year. That is unlikely to be before June.
“At the same time, he called for a swift return to the agreed Turnberry terms, i.e. a 15% all-inclusive tariff rate, with the agreed carve-outs for the EU,” the Commission said.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the previous global tariffs in February and Washington replaced them with a blanket 10% surcharge on top of existing duties. In some cases, EU goods therefore face a U.S. tariff above 15%.
“It would be beneficial for the main features of the deal to be in place ahead of its one-year anniversary,” the EU executive continued, adding that Sefcovic and Greer had agreed to step up engagement.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Makini BriceEditing by Gareth Jones)
