Customs duties: Donald Trump gives the EU until July 4 to implement a trade agreement very favorable to the United States

The American president has once again threatened Europe. Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would give the European Union until July 4 to implement the trade agreement signed with the United States, after a call with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. After this deadline, the customs duties imposed by Washington on the EU “would immediately jump to much higher levels”, warned the American president on his Truth Social network.

At the end of March, the European Parliament approved, under conditions, the trade agreement between the United States and the EU concluded last summer in Turnberry, Scotland. But the bloc’s internal procedures provide for negotiations with member states before it is formally implemented. In the Turnberry agreement, the EU committed to removing customs duties on most US imports, in exchange for capping the customs duties imposed by Trump on European products at 15%.

“I have waited patiently for the EU to fulfill its part of the Historic Trade Agreement we reached (…), the largest trade agreement ever concluded,” wrote the President of the United States. “The EU has promised to fulfill its part of the contract and (…) to reduce its customs duties to ZERO,” he added. “I agreed to give it until the 250th anniversary of our country, otherwise, unfortunately, the tariffs (practiced in the United States) would immediately jump to much higher levels. » On July 4, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence from Great Britain, considered the date of the birth of the country.

Customs duties on European vehicles

On Friday, Donald Trump threatened the EU to impose new customs surcharges on cars and trucks exported to the United States. In response, Brussels assured that the EU was respecting its part of the agreement, and that Washington had been kept informed “throughout the procedures” aimed at ratifying it legislatively.

Discussions between the Twenty-Seven and the European Parliament with a view to ratifying the trade agreement with the United States have progressed, but without reaching this stage, we learned in Brussels during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.

The Cypriot government, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, reported “progress on a certain number of elements”, and indicated that it wanted to continue this “positive dynamic” during a new negotiation session with MEPs scheduled for May 19.