EU calls for US trade deal based on 'respect' not 'threats'

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The EU’s trade chief said following talks with his US counterparts Friday the bloc would work in “good faith” for a trade deal with Washington based on “respect” not “threats”.

President Donald Trump dramatically upped the stakes in the months-long transatlantic standoff earlier Friday by threatening a 50 percent tariff on the bloc — complaining talks with Brussels were “going nowhere.”

“The EU’s fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both,” trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic posted on X, after a previously-planned call with US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

“EU-US trade is unmatched & must be guided by mutual respect, not threats. We stand ready to defend our interests,” Sefcovic wrote.

But he also stressed that the European Commission — which conducts trade policy on behalf of the 27-nation bloc — “remains ready to work in good faith” towards a deal.

Trump’s new tariffs would, if imposed on the EU, dramatically raise Washington’s current baseline levy of 10 percent, and fuel simmering tensions between the world’s biggest economy and its largest trading bloc.