The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, spoke on the phone to US President Donald Trump on Sunday 6 July. They had “a good exchange”, but no details of this were revealed. This time, Mrs von der Leyen did not share information on social networks.
According to the European Commissioner for Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis, the discussions have recently progressed. Like several European Commission representatives in recent days, he expressed confidence that an agreement could be reached by Wednesday 9 July. At the end of the Eurogroup meeting, he indicated that to the best of his knowledge, the European Commission had not received a letter from Donald Trump on Monday informing them of a return to tariffs on 1 August. On the same day, Japan and South Korea received a letter to the same effect, threatening them with a 25% tariff.
Last Friday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave assurances that the suspended tariffs would not be reintroduced until 1 August, and that letters would be sent to warn the countries concerned.
According to several media reports, the US administration may also grant a reprieve from negotiations with certain countries until 1 August. Spokespersons for the European Commission, meanwhile, assure us that negotiators are continuing to work hard to reach an agreement in principle by Wednesday.
According to Scott Bessent, several agreements should be announced just before the 9 July deadline. “We’ve had a lot of people change their tune in terms of negotiations. So my mailbox was full last night with a lot of new offers, a lot of new proposals”, he told CNBC on Monday 7 July.
In this final stretch, the European Commission must consult the Member States to find out which agreement they are likely to accept. On the same day, it also met with the permanent representatives of the Member States to the EU. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)