US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States had a “chance of 50 to 50” or perhaps even less to conclude a trade agreement with the European Union, although he thinks that the EU wants an agreement.
“We work very diligently with Europe, the EU,” Trump told journalists by leaving the White House for a trip to Scotland. “I would say that we have a chance from 50 to 50 years old, maybe less than that, but 50-50 chances of concluding an agreement with the EU.”
When asked again, he said, “He’s the big one … I think the EU is quite good to conclude an agreement at the moment”, according to Reuters.
The European Commission said on Thursday that an agreement with the United States was still possible, even though EU countries approved counter-trials out of 93 billion euros (around 109 billion dollars) of American goods if negotiations are breaking down.
The main objective of the EU is to avoid 30% import prices which, according to Trump, will take effect on August 1 if the talks do not succeed. Trump said the EU should “buy” the rate rate, although he has given no details.
Some EU diplomats consider that an agreement could involve a 15% tariff on EU goods entering the United States, similar to an agreement that the United States has concluded with Japan. But the White House said that such reports were speculative.
The trade agreement between the United States and Japan, announced earlier this week by Trump, can already be faced with difficulties, reports on Friday reporting disagreements on how to divide the profits of the planned investment in Japan of $ 550 billion in the United States.
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The agreement includes a reciprocal rate of 15% on imported goods and was presented by Trump as a model for future trade agreements. But according to Reuters, Japan puts pressure on profits depending on the investment contribution, while the United States want to keep 90% of yields.
Despite the tension, the agreement may have established a new reference for Washington’s trade policy. Trump said the rate rates will now be between 15% and 50%, with more difficult business partners confronted at the upper end of this scale. Its pricing plan for the “Liberation Day” in April initially set a basic rate of 10% on all American trade partners.
As part of his wider commercial strategy, Trump said on Friday that formal letters detailing tariff rates for more than 200 countries would soon be published. He added that his administration was pushing to finalize trade agreements with key partners, including the European Union, India and Canada.
“We were not very lucky with Canada,” said Trump, suggesting that the United States could move forward with 35% prices on Canadian products not covered by the USMCA trade agreement, as indicated by Fox News.
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Trump also said that discussions with China were growing. “We have the limits of an agreement,” he said, adding that American and Chinese negotiators should meet again next week.
Trump’s sales advisor Peter Navarro told Bloomberg News that EU statements “should be taken with a grain of salt.” We do not yet know what the EU is ready to offer. An EU diplomat said Reuters Unlike Japan, the block does not seek to invest promising in the United States as part of the agreement.
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