Trump Extends Deadline to Negotiate Tariffs With EU

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., Sunday, May 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

US President Donald Trump has agreed to extend a deadline to negotiate tariffs with the European Union by more than a month.

Last month, he announced a 20 per cent tariff – or import tax – on most EU goods, but later cut this to 10 per cent to allow time for negotiations.

On Friday, Trump expressed frustration with the pace of talks and threatened to raise the tariff rate to an even higher level of 50 per cent as soon as June 1.

But on Sunday, he wrote on social media that he was pushing his deadline back to July 9, after a call with European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen.

Von der Leyen echoed Trump’s assessment of the call and said the bloc was ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively.

In her own online post, von der Leyen wrote: “To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”

Trump’s acceptance of that date means the deadline is close to what it was previously. Before threatening the 50 per cent rate, Trump had set a deadline of July 8 for both sides to talk.