US and EU in showdown over trade

Top of­fi­cials at the Eu­ro­pean Union’s ex­ec­u­tive com­mis­sion says they’re push­ing hard for a trade deal with the Trump ad­min­is­tra­tion to avoid a 50% tar­iff on im­port­ed goods. Trump had threat­ened to im­pose the tar­iffs on June 1, but has pushed back the dead­line to Ju­ly 9, re­peat­ing an oft-used tac­tic in his trade war.

Eu­ro­pean ne­go­tia­tors are con­tend­ing with Trump’s ever-chang­ing and un­pre­dictable tar­iff threats, but “still, they have to come up with some­thing to hope­ful­ly paci­fy him,” said Bruce Stokes, vis­it­ing se­nior fel­low at the Ger­man Mar­shall Fund of the Unit­ed States.

Stokes al­so sees more at play than just a dis­agree­ment over trade deficits. Trump’s threats “are root­ed in frus­tra­tion with the EU that has lit­tle to do with trade,’’ Stokes said. “He doesn’t like the EU. He doesn’t like Ger­many.”