https://www.axios.com/2025/05/25/eu-tariffs-trump
President-elect Trump in Paris in Dec. 2024. Photo: Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images
Two days after threatening to impose a 50% tariff on imports from the European Union, President Trump on Sunday paused the levies until July and said talks would start "rapidly."
Why it matters: The threat of such a large tariff, on more than $600 billion of goods, sent a chill through markets that feared a sudden re-escalation of the trade war.
Catch up quick: On Friday, Trump posted to Truth Social that the EU had been "very difficult to deal with" and that talks were "going nowhere!"
- He said he'd recommend a tariff starting June 1 that was more than double what he'd imposed on "Liberation Day" in early April (but paused a week later).
Yes, but: On Sunday evening, Trump said he'd received a call from Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, requesting a pause until July 9.
- "(It) was my privilege to do so," he said on Truth Social.
- In a post to X, von der Leyen said the EU was "ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively."
The intrigue: The Financial Times reported on Friday the U.S. was preparing to reject an approach on trade from the EU, demanding instead that the Europeans make unilateral tariff cuts first.
- Trump later said in the Oval Office he was "not looking for a deal" with Europe.
What to watch: The EU is the midst of a public review on a proposed list of tariffs on about $100 billion in U.S. goods.
- The fate of that review, and any other counter-tariffs, are up in the air for now in light of Sunday's developments.
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