US and EU reach trade agreement to end tariff standoff

US President Donald Trump and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen Sunday announced they had reached a deal to end a transatlantic tariffs standoff and avert a full-blown trade war.

- Agencies

The agreement came as the clock ticked down on an August 1 deadline for the European Union to strike a deal with Washington — or face an across-the-board US levy of 30%. “We have reached a deal. It’s a good deal for everybody,” Trump told reporters following a high-stakes meeting with von der Leyen at his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland. Trump told reporters the deal involved a baseline levy of 15 percent on EU exports to the United States — the same level secured by Japan -- including for the bloc’s crucial auto sector, which is currently being taxed at 25%. “We are agreeing that the tariff straight across, for automobiles and everything else, will be a straight across tariff of 15%,” Trump said. He also said the bloc had agreed to purchase “$750 billion worth of energy” from the United States, as well as $600 billion more in additional investments in the country. Negotiating on behalf of the EU’s 27 countries, von der Leyen’s European Commission had been pushing hard to salvage a trading relationship worth an annual $1.9 trillion in goods and services. “It's a good deal,” the EU chief told reporters, sitting alongside Trump following their hour-long talks. “It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic,” she said.