EU delays retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods in hopes of Aug. 1 trade deal

'We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution,' European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

The EU will suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month.

“This is now the time for negotiations,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels on Sunday, after U.S. President Donald Trump sent a letter announcing new tariffs of 30 per cent on goods from the EU and Mexico starting Aug. 1.

The EU — America’s biggest trading partner and the world’s largest trading bloc — had been scheduled to impose “countermeasures” starting Monday at midnight Brussels time (6 p.m. EDT). The EU negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries.

Von der Leyen said those countermeasures would be delayed until Aug. 1, and that Trump’s letter shows “that we have until the first of August” to negotiate. European leaders have urged Trump and von der Leyen to give negotiations more time.

“We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution,” she said. If they can’t reach a deal, she said that “we will continue to prepare countermeasures so we are fully prepared.”

Standing alongside Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, von der Leyen said the trade tensions with the U.S. show the importance of “diversifying our trade relationships.'”

Trump has said his global tariffs would set the foundation for reviving a U.S. economy that he claims has been ripped off by other nations for decades. Trump in his letter to the European Union said the U.S. trade deficit was a national security threat.

U.S. trade partners have faced months of uncertainty and on-and-off threats from Trump to impose tariffs, with deadlines sometimes extended or changed. The tariffs could have ramifications for nearly every aspect of the global economy.