The EU said Friday it was ready to strike a deal with Washington to avoid swingeing tariffs, after US President Donald Trump sowed doubt over reaching an accord.
“We remain on our side fully locked and loaded to conclude an agreement with the US,” EU trade spokesman Olof Gill told reporters.
“Let’s see what happens when our friends in Washington wake up in a few hours.”
It appeared this week that Brussels and Washington would seal a quick deal that would prevent the return of 20-percent levies — or even higher. But there was no breakthrough despite the EU’s hopes.
Instead, Trump extended the deadline for tariffs to kick in again for several trading partners until August 1, from July 9.
He then threw a spanner in the works on Thursday when he told NBC News the European Union would receive a letter with details of new tariffs “today or tomorrow”.
The EU was “prepared for all scenarios”, Gill told reporters.
“We remain in close contact with our member states and our industry to ensure that whatever plan we go with — Plan A, B, C, D or E — is the right one for the EU,” he added.
The EU prepared retaliatory duties on US goods worth around 21 billion euros after Trump also slapped 25-percent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports earlier this year, but they are suspended until July 14.
The EU has not made any move to extend the suspension but could do it quickly if needed.
“If a political decision is made to extend the suspension, then we extend the suspension. There’s no difficulty doing that,” Gill said.
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