BRUSSELS, Belgium: The European Union remains 鈥渇ully committed鈥� to reaching a trade agreement with the United States, the bloc鈥檚 trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said Monday following calls with top US officials.
The contacts come after US President Donald Trump threatened Friday, but then postponed, to hit EU goods with a huge tariff, voicing frustration that talks with the EU were 鈥済oing nowhere.鈥�
Sefcovic said in a post on X that he had 鈥済ood calls鈥� with US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
鈥淲e continue to stay in constant contact,鈥� he added.
Trump has called for eliminating the EU鈥檚 surplus in goods trade with the United States.
On Friday, he threatened to impose 50-percent tariffs on the bloc from June 1, sending markets into a tailspin.
The US president had already hit the bloc with multiple waves of tariffs, including 25-percent duties on cars, steel and aluminum.
The European Commission has been leading talks on behalf of the 27-country bloc in search of a mutually beneficial deal with Washington 鈥� though with little to show so far.
But Trump agreed Sunday to delay the heftier levies on the EU until July 9 after a phone call with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
While the dollar remained under pressure Monday, European markets rallied over news of the delayed tariffs.
鈥淭he stock market seems to dance to Trump鈥檚 tune: first a threat, then a pullback, quickly followed by a rebound as speculative investors anticipate a concession from the US president,鈥� said Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets trading platform.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Monday criticized Trump鈥檚 鈥渢errible language鈥� about the European Union, in response to his comments that the bloc was formed to 鈥渟crew鈥� the United States.
鈥淚t鈥檚 against history. And it鈥檚 certainly not the purpose of this region,鈥� she said, urging negotiations on a deal.
The EU remains subject to a 10-percent tariff that Trump imposed last month on imports from nearly every country around the world.
Brussels is consulting with member states on plans to impose tariffs on US goods worth nearly 100 billion euros ($113 billion) if negotiations fail to produce a deal.
The US trade deficit in goods with the European Union was $236 billion in 2024.
But when taking account of services, where US firms are dominant, the European Commission calculates that the overall US trade deficit stood at $57 billion.
Sefcovic has said that the European Union could cover that figure by buying US liquefied natuaral gas and some farm products.