Euromission: The EU is holding informal trade talks with the United States
European politicians are using informal channels for dialogue on a trade deal with the United States, Slovak MEP Lubos Blaha told Izvestia. Earlier, the EU submitted a proposal to the United States regarding this agreement, negotiations may take place in June, Bloomberg writes. Washington and Brussels are likely to conclude a trade deal, given their mutual ties, experts say. The United Kingdom was able to reach an agreement with the United States, and 18 other countries are now trying to conclude an agreement with Washington. Whether the Trump administration will be able to change the situation in global trade is in the Izvestia article.
How the EU is trying to negotiate with the United States
European politicians are conducting informal negotiations on concluding a trade deal with members of the US Congress, Lubos Blaha, an MEP from Slovakia and a member of the ruling Course — Social Democracy party, told Izvestia.
— I am not aware of any official events, although unofficially, members of individual factions in the European Parliament undoubtedly communicate with members of the US Congress on this topic. After all, our SMER party also has contacts in the United States, and in the spirit of the "politics on all four sides of the world" approach, we are developing certain activities," the parliamentarian told Izvestia.
The use of informal channels may be related to the difficult relationship between US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. She was not invited to the inauguration of the American leader in January, and The New York Times wrote in April that von der Leyen had failed to achieve a personal meeting with the US president, despite attempts to organize it.
Instead of the European Commission, Trump prefers to do business with individual leaders of the EU countries, for example, in April, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited the White House. The US president agreed to hold trade talks with the EU in Rome.
According to Bloomberg, the European Union recently submitted a trade deal proposal to the United States. The agreement provides for the gradual zeroing of duties on non-agricultural and non-sensitive industrial goods. In addition, the EU offers cooperation in the fields of energy, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure and mutual investments.
But if a deal fails, Brussels has a backup plan: it may impose additional duties on $108 billion worth of American goods.
The European Parliament hopes for a quick conclusion of a trade agreement with the United States, Fernand Kartheiser, MEP, member of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, told Izvestia.
— Perhaps we should focus solely on tariffs, since both sides of the Atlantic are clearly interested in achieving results on their removal. In general, I advocate free trade and low tariffs for several reasons: tariffs reinforce inflationary trends, and protectionism prevents companies from adapting to their competitors," the politician told Izvestia.
On April 2, US President Donald Trump announced the imposition of customs duties on products from more than 200 countries and territories. Universal tariffs of 10% came into force on April 5, individual tariffs — on April 9. In addition, the US administration has imposed customs duties of 25% on all imported cars since April 3. Brussels has prepared retaliatory duties on $22 billion worth of imports from the United States. However, in April, the parties postponed the introduction of tariff measures and decided to give negotiations a chance.
The White House also agreed to postpone the introduction of large-scale duties for 90 days, but the total tariff of 10% is still valid. More than 75 countries have asked the United States to discuss a solution to trade barriers. "These countries are calling us, kissing my ass," Trump said.
Who has already been able to make a deal with Washington
The volume of bilateral trade in goods and services between the EU and the United States in 2023 amounted to almost €1.6 trillion. At the same time, the situation in trade in goods is developing in favor of Brussels, with a trade balance of €157 billion. But the United States is the leader in the service sector, with exports exceeding imports by 109 billion euros.
Considering the turnover of goods, services and investments, the EU and the USA are each other's largest trading partners. In other words, these are two closely intertwined economies that account for about one third of global trade, Daria Moiseeva, Candidate of Political Sciences, chief analyst at ANO Kolaboratoria, told Izvestia.
— Considering how many countries have already negotiated special terms for themselves in this tariff war, there are prospects for concluding a deal. It was obvious that Trump wanted to bargain, and the tariffs initially announced were his requested position," the expert noted.
It was Trump who became the man who put an end to the years—long negotiations between the United States and the EU on the transatlantic trade and investment partnership, an agreement that had the potential to become historic. Therefore, Brussels approached Trump's second term without illusions about the potential for developing transatlantic relations, Moiseeva concluded.
A common approach to all countries on the issue of trade is hardly possible, each state seeks to conclude its own deal. For the United States, this allows us to circumvent the rules of the most-favored-nation trade regime, which operates with most countries by default due to the existence of the WTO, Ivan Loshkarev, associate professor of the MGIMO Department of Political Theory, told Izvestia.
"Instead of general terms of trade, Trump wants to gain more somewhere, exchange trade preferences for political ones, and simply reduce trade turnover with some countries to protect certain sectors of the US economy," the expert noted.
The first country to conclude a deal with the United States was the United Kingdom. London has agreed to speed up the passage of American goods through customs and lower barriers to beef, energy, and manufactured goods from the United States. Washington received from the agreement $6 billion in revenue from 10% duties and $5 billion through new export opportunities for American cattle ranchers, farmers and producers.
British manufacturers will be allowed to supply 100,000 vehicles to the United States at a tariff of 10%, instead of the previously imposed 25%, and steel and aluminum supplies will continue. This issue was of particular concern to the government of Keir Starmer, which could face rising unemployment. It is important that London reached an agreement with Washington before concluding a deal with the EU, which also indicates the priority nature of relations with the United States.
Earlier, China was able to negotiate with the United States on a significant reduction in mutual tariffs for a period of 90 days. Washington will reduce duties on Chinese goods from 145 to 30%, and Beijing on American goods from 125 to 10%. The parties also agreed to create a mechanism to continue discussions.
Washington is currently negotiating on this topic with 18 "important partners," said U.S. Commerce Secretary Scott Bessant. At the same time, if no agreements are concluded, the tariffs announced by Trump will enter into full force. India intends to conclude a deal by July — the country's delegation arrived in Washington on May 15-19.
India, South Korea and Japan are the closest to any agreements. However, what exactly these agreements will consist of and to what extent they will cover all economic relations with the United States is an open question. According to Ivan Loshkarev, it is more likely that they will affect only a part of trade, primarily goods from the machine-building, chemical, pharmaceutical industries, as well as modern communications and computers.
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