BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told President Donald Trump that he wants the European Union’s (EU) trade agreement with the United States to be implemented quickly but the bloc can’t accept a deal with worse conditions.
Merz held bilateral talks with the American president for a second time on Tuesday and said at the start of the meeting in the Oval Office he also wanted to discuss the US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Russia’s war on Ukraine with Trump.
“A limit has been reached of what we are willing to accept, what we can accept with regard to this disproportionate burden with tariffs,” Merz told reporters after his meeting with Trump.
“We want this agreement to last and I have gained the impression that the president and his staff see it that way.”
Merz also said that the United States couldn’t impose prohibitive trade measures just on Spain, after Trump threatened to cut off all trade with Madrid after the country denied access to its military bases for the American bombing campaign against Iran.
Trump administration officials are rushing to design a new tariff regime after the president’s original framework was struck down last month by the US Supreme Court.
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, has been pushing to get the EU-US pact that was sealed last July approved.
However, the European Parliament has repeatedly delayed a final ratification vote until they have clarity about Washington’s intentions.
Heads of the European Parliament’s trade committee will meet this week to decide if they’ll unfreeze the ratification process.
EU member states have broadly supported sticking to the EU-US agreement despite the new tariff framework breaching the 15% ceiling for products like cheese and plastics.
“We have to talk about our trade agreement, which I would like to be in place as soon as possible,” Merz told reporters in brief remarks alongside Trump in the White House.
The EU and the United States remain far apart on the terms of a potential trade agreement, with negotiations repeatedly snagging on digital regulation, industrial subsidies, taxation and market‑access demands.
Officials on both sides acknowledge that the gaps are structural rather than technical, limiting the scope for a comprehensive deal. — Bloomberg
