EU trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič will travel on Monday to Washington to hold meetings with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Commission spokesperson Olof Gill said on Friday.
The Commission is hoping to advance negotiations on tariffs, after weeks of deadlock.
“The EU is willing to find win-win outcomes, mutual beneficially deals with our American counterparts to avoid tariffs and to avoid any harmful escalation that would be damaging on both sides of the Atlantic,” Gill said.
The EU has offered to level US and EU tariffs to 0% on industrial goods. The US currently imposes 25% tariffs on EU imports of aluminium and steel, 25% tariffs on EU cars and 10% tariffs across the board.
“We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods, as we have successfully done with many other trading partners,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday before the 90-day pause was announced by the US.
The Commission suspended on Thursday retaliation measures on a list of US products member states adopted on Wednesday against US tariffs on aluminium and steel, keen to give negotiation with the US a chance.
EU Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis assessed on Friday the impact of the trade war launched by the US administration. According to the Commission’s figures, US GDP would be reduced by 0.8% to 1.4% up to 2027, he claimed. “The negative impact on the EU would be less than for the US, about 0.2% of GDP,” Dombrovskis said.
“If tariffs are perceived to be permanent or if the targeted countries were to retaliate, igniting a trade war, the economic consequences would be more negative: up to 3.1%-3.3% for the US, 0.5%-0.6% for the EU and 1.2% for world GDP, while global trade would decline by 7.7% in 3 years’ time,” he added.
