“Good and constructive negotiations this evening with the Council and the Commission,” said MEP Karin Karlsbro, who was representing the centrist Renew Europe group in the European Parliament. “It is important that we get a Trump-proof agreement in place before we have a final deal.”
The inconclusive outcome puts the ball back in Trump’s court, after his ambassador to the EU, Andrew Puzder, said earlier that Washington would impose the 25 percent auto tariff “relatively soon” if negotiators fail to reach a quick agreement.
“You’ve got time to fix it, the time is now,” Puzder told Bloomberg TV in Brussels. “If you do that he would probably take another look at it.”
United States Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder, who had warned that Washington could impose the 25 percent auto tariff “relatively soon”, in Brussels on April 9. | Nicolas Tucat/AFP via Getty Images
Under the handshake deal reached at Trump’s Turnberry resort last July, the EU agreed to scrap its tariffs on U.S. industrial goods, while Washington would cap tariffs on most goods at 15 percent.
But the EU has yet to make good on that by passing enabling legislation, infuriating Trump and increasing pressure on the European Commission — which negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 members — to get it on the books.
The Commission’s top trade official, Sabine Weyand, told the European Parliament’s trade committee earlier that she looked forward to a meeting “which presents a breakthrough and which shows the EU stands by its commitments.”
