The European Union on Monday accused the United States of blocking progress toward a trade agreement and warned it would take retaliatory action if a deal is not reached before President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs come into effect on August 1.

Trump, however, said he remained open to further discussions with the EU and other global partners ahead of the new 30% tariffs he plans to impose on most imports from the EU and Mexico. “They would like to do a different kind of a deal and we’re always open to talk, including to Europe,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “In fact, they’re coming over. They’d like to talk.”

The proposed tariffs are part of Trump’s broader escalation of trade tensions, with similar threats previously directed at countries such as Japan and South Korea. While the EU has so far refrained from retaliating to avoid a cycle of escalating tariffs, European leaders meeting in Brussels on Monday signalled that they may be preparing to respond.

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen described the US tariff threat as “absolutely unacceptable” during a post-meeting press conference.

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said the bloc remained open to dialogue but criticised Washington’s unwillingness to finalise a deal. “As I said before, it takes two hands to clap,” he remarked, adding that EU member states had agreed to introduce countermeasures if talks break down.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that the EU has already drawn up a list of tariffs worth €21 billion ($24.5 billion) on US goods, ready to be implemented if negotiations fail.

Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said she believed an agreement on security issues with the US could still be reached before the August deadline. The White House later clarified that the proposed tariffs on Mexico—linked by Trump to the country’s alleged failure to curb fentanyl trafficking—would not apply to goods covered under the USMCA trade pact, which includes most Mexican exports to the US.

Sheinbaum also dismissed any suggestion that the deal would involve US troops entering Mexican territory, a proposal Trump had previously hinted at.

Faridah Abdulkadiri

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