EU threatens to strike back over US tariffs

Trump 'open to talks' with trade partners

- PHILIP BLENKINSOP DAVID LAWDER

The European Union on Monday accused the US of resisting efforts to strike a trade deal and warned of countermeasures if no agreement is reached to avoid the punishing tariffs President Donald Trump has threatened to impose starting on Aug 1.

Trump, meanwhile, said he was open to further discussions with the EU and other trading partners before new 30% tariffs kick in next month and that EU officials would be coming to the United States for negotiations.

“They would like to do a different kind of a deal and we're always open to talk, including to Europe,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “In fact, they're coming over. They'd like to talk.” Trump stepped up his trade war on Saturday, saying he would impose a 30% tariff on most imports from the EU and Mexico next month, following similar warnings for other countries including Asian economic powerhouses Japan and South Korea.

The EU has so far held off on retaliatory measures to avoid a spiralling tit-for-tat escalation while there remains a chance of negotiating an improved outcome. But EU ministers emerging from a meeting in Brussels on Monday appeared closer to striking back.

Speaking at a news conference following the meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen called the tariff threat “absolutely unacceptable.”

EU Trade Chief Maros Sefcovic said there was “still a potential to continue the negotiations” but voiced frustration with Washington's failure to agree to a deal with its largest trading partner.