The EU and United States are “advancing in the right direction” to reach a trade agreement that will head off 50 percent steel tariffs, the bloc’s trade chief said on Wednesday (4 June).
EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met US trade representative Jamieson Greer at the margins of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)'s ministerial council meeting in Paris.
Šefčovič posted on social media that he had “had a productive and constructive discussion.”
"We are moving steadily in the right direction regarding tariffs, and there is agreement on the necessity to continue joint efforts to find lasting and sustainable solutions," Šefčovič told a press conference on Wednesday.
Šefčovič said that the meeting would be followed by a video conference between himself and Greer to then “assess the progress and charter the way forward”.
“If the discussion and negotiation do not succeed, Europe is capable of having countermeasures on American products and services as well,” he added.
EU and US trade officials have been in negotiations for several months since US president Donald Trump made clear that he would launch a tariff war unless the EU and other economies offer better trading terms to the US. A reciprocal zero-tariff rate on goods is at the heart of the EU commission’s offer to Washington.
Brussels was blindsided by Trump’s decision last week to double tariffs on steel and aluminium products from 25 percent to 50 percent, a move which also came into effect on Wednesday. Trump also expressed frustration at the pace of trade talks with the EU.
The commission dispatched a delegation of trade officials to Washington earlier this week.
However, it has also stepped up its consultations with EU governments on potential counter-tariffs on US goods should talks fail. These had previously included tariffs worth €22bn on goods such as Harley-Davidson motorcycles and Levi’s jeans.
Ahead of the ministerial meeting in Paris, the OECD released its own economic outlook which forecasts that global growth will slow from 3.3 percent in 2024 to 2.9 percent in both 2025 and 2026, attributing the slowdown in part to the volatility cause by the Trump tariffs.
The slowdown is expected to be most concentrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China.
The OECD reckons that economic growth in the US will fall from 2.8 percent in 2024 to 1.6 percent in 2025 and 1.5 percent in 2026. In the euro area, growth is projected to strengthen modestly from 0.8 percent in 2024 to 1.0 percent in 2025 and 1.2 percent in 2026.
The UK has been exempted from the 50-percent steel tariffs, while the EU has been given until 9 July to work out a solution following a phone call between Trump and EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Irish foreign minister Simon Harris, who was at the gathering in Paris, described the meeting as “a positive step” and that “the objective remains to reach a mutually beneficial agreement that includes reducing tariffs and non-tariff barriers, promoting economic security, as well as facilitating business opportunities and investment.”
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Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Benjamin Fox is a seasoned reporter and editor, previously working for fellow Brussels publication Euractiv. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He heads up the AU-EU section at EUobserver, based in Nairobi, Kenya.