U.S. President Donald Trump has set a July 4 deadline for the European Union to ratify a tariff agreement between the two trading partners or else levies will “immediately jump to much higher levels,” according to a Thursday Truth Social post.
“I’ve been waiting patiently for the EU to fulfill their side of the Historic Trade Deal we agreed in Turnberry, Scotland, the largest Trade Deal, ever!” Trump said in the post following a call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!”
Von der Leyen said Thursday that the EU remains “fully committed” to implementing the pact, which would cap tariffs on many EU imports at 15% while removing levies for certain U.S industrial products, among other provisions.
“Good progress is being made towards tariff reduction by early July,” von der Leyen said in a post on X.
This is the second time in as many weeks Trump has ratcheted up pressure on the EU to finalize the pact the two countries cemented last summer. On May 1, the president said he would set a 25% tariff on EU car and truck imports the following week because the bloc was not complying with the agreement. No official documentation of the levy has been published and it is unclear if the new deadline wipes out the threat.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, rebuked the car and truck tariff threat from Trump, calling it “unacceptable” in a LinkedIn post last week. However, he also said that the EU was on track to finalize previously approved provisions of the agreement in June.
Following Trump’s car and truck tariff salvo, EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at a G7 summit in Paris this week.
“Would be beneficial for the main features of the EU-US deal to be in place ahead of its one-year mark,” Šefčovič said on X Tuesday following the meeting. “Work is ongoing – we’re stepping up engagement at both political and technical levels.”
The European Parliament in March approved key provisions of the agreement, but before the bloc fully ratifies the pact, the legislative body must meet with individual member governments to shape the final legislation for implementation.
On Thursday, Lange confirmed that the European Parliament concluded its second round of negotiations with individual country governments this week, with a third round scheduled to begin May 19.
“We remain more committed than ever to advance and defend Parliament’s mandate so as to provide additional guarantees that will benefit citizens and companies in both the EU and the US,” Lange said in a statement while noting “there is still some way to go.”
