BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union will try to reach a good trade deal with the United States, while preparing possible countermeasures if the talks fail, EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said on Monday.
“We continue to engage with the US administration and prioritize a negotiated solution by the new deadline of August 1. I cannot imagine walking away without any effort,” Sefcovic said before a meeting with EU trade ministers in Brussels.
But the EU would have to prepare for all outcomes, he said, “including, if necessary, well considered, proportionate countermeasures to restore the balance.”
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would impose 30% tariffs on most EU imports from August 1, though there was still time to hammer out an agreement to secure lower tariffs.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen responded that 30%tariffs on EU exports would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, hurting businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic.
She said on Sunday that the bloc would extend its suspension of countermeasures until early August to prioritize negotiations.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, ahead of the meeting in Brussels, said it was too early to impose countermeasures and that he hoped the EU would remain united on that front.
“But we should prepare to be ready to use all the tools,” he added. “If you want peace, you have to prepare for war. And I think that’s where we are.”
(Reporting by Phil Blenkinsop and Milan Strahm, writing by Bart Meijer; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Bernadette Baum)
