Donald Trump has indicated there has been progress in US trade talks with the EU, helping send share prices rising on Wall Street, after he commended the bloc for calling to “quickly establish meeting dates”.
“I have just been informed that the EU has called to quickly establish meeting dates. This is a positive event, and I hope that they will,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, saying the EU would be “very happy and successful” if it agreed a deal.
However, the president also repeated criticism of Brussels’ negotiators and defended his decision on Friday to threaten a 50% tariff on EU imports from 1 June, which he postponed two days later until 9 July.
“I was extremely satisfied with the 50% tariff allotment on the European Union, especially since they were slow walking (to put it mildly!), our negotiations with them,” he wrote.
In what appeared to be another veiled threat on potential further tariffs, he added that he was empowered to “set a deal” if the US was “unable to make a deal” or was “treated unfairly”.
Nevertheless, the president’s comments and his weekend U-turn on 50% border taxes helped lift US markets, which had been closed on Monday. The S&P 500 rose 1.9% in early trading on Tuesday, while the Dow Jones added 1.6% and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite was up by 2.4%.
Brussels sources said the way had now been cleared for detailed negotiations, with an expectation that the EU commissioner for trade, Maroš Šefčovič, would meet the US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, on the sidelines of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development meeting in Paris on Tuesday next week.
A team of officials are also expected in Washington in the coming days for technical talks. However, sources said the EU’s approach had not changed, with the target being a deal in which both sides move to zero tariffs on industrial goods, and the EU buys more soya beans, arms and liquefied natural gas.
Trump’s latest comments came as Emmanuel Macron warned Vietnamese students about the consequences of impulsive superpowers in a swipe at Trump’s chaotic tariff policies.
During a six-day south-east Asian tour, the French president said that “on the impulse of a superpower, everything can change”. On Trump’s policies in the US, he said tariffs were being imposed “according to the side of the bed on which he woke up”.
After the weekend’s tariff flip-flopping, there is evidence that EU policymakers are scrambling to get a handle on the scale of European direct investment in the US with requests going out to industry leaders to share their investment plans.
Members of the Confederation of European Business, also known as BusinessEurope, an alliance of 42 federations across the region, received a survey from the European Commission on Monday. It asked for information on upcoming US investments, with the instruction to respond as soon as possible, one source said.
A similar note seeking information on investment plans for the next five years was sent to the 59-person European Round Table for Industry, which represents industry and the tech sector. The petition for information came with a note saying the request had came personally from the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen.
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The round table’s members include the CEOs of companies including the chip equipment maker ASML, the German chemicals group BASF and the software company SAP, as well as the carmakers BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
A headline figure on EU investment plans could prove critical in negotiations. Last month, Trump touted investments from US companies including the chip maker Nvidia and the pharma giant Johnson & Johnson – both of which have a large presence in Europe – as evidence that his tariff strategy was paying off with the repatriation of jobs to the US.
European and Asian stock markets also rose on Tuesday as investors continued to react positively to Trump’s decision to backtrack on Friday’s tariff threat.
Naeem Aslam, the chief investment officer at London’s Zaye Capital Markets, told CNBC that the tariffs delay had sparked a “tentative risk-on rally”.
“Looking ahead, the EU-US trade dance is a high-stakes tango, with July 9 as the next flashpoint,” he said. The EU was dangling phased tariff cuts and “mutual respect” talks, but he warned businesses to “buckle up; this ride’s far from over”.
