In a well-established pattern, on Sunday 25 May US President Donald Trump put on hold the 50% tariff he had threatened to impose two days earlier on European products starting 1 June. A telephone call between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and Donald Trump on Sunday 25 May paved the way for this new truce.
The two leaders said they had a very good conversation and ordered that negotiations between the two blocs should continue and even accelerate.
This is an encouraging sign, according to several European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris. The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, for her part, defended the idea of a summit with the US leader in the coming weeks, according to several media reports.
On a more technical level, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maroš Šefčovič, held further talks with the US Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, on Monday 26 May. The outcome of this conversation was not known at the time of going to press.
A few days earlier, Mr Šefčovič had already had a telephone call with Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. But the conversation did not end on a positive note. “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats”, the Commissioner posted on the X social network.
“The EU has always been clear that it is ready to conclude an agreement”, said European Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho on Monday 26 May. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)