Germany urges calm negotiations in worsening EU-US trade relations

Germany’s finance minister, Lars Klingbeil, on Sunday called for calm talks to stop a fast-growing trade fight between the European Union and the United States after President Donald Trump warned he would place a 50% tariff on every EU import from June 1.

“We don’t need any more provocations now, but serious negotiations,” Klingbeil told the German newspaper. He said he had already spoken “precisely” about the issue with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

“The US tariffs are endangering the American economy at least as much as the German and European economies,” he said. 

“This trade conflict harms everyone and must be ended quickly.” Still, he added, Europe is “united and determined to defend our interests.”

Klingbeil’s warning matched the mood in Brussels after Trump’s online threat late Friday to raise duties. In his post, the president said the 27-nation bloc was dragging its feet and treating American companies unfairly, calling the EU “difficult to deal with” in “discussions that are going nowhere!”

The threat rattled markets. On Friday, the S&P 500 Index and the Stoxx Europe 600 Index each fell about 1%. The dollar slipped toward its weakest point since 2023, while US Treasury yields dropped as investors looked for safety.

Behind the public exchange sits an EU paper that was sent to the White House earlier last week. People familiar with the document say Brussels offered to cut or scrap tariffs on industrial goods, give more room for American farm exports judged non-sensitive, and work together on building AI data centers.

The 11-page offer also suggested joint efforts in shipbuilding, port infrastructure, and an energy partnership covering gas, nuclear power, and oil.

Although the text avoids naming China, it refers to “non-market practices.” It also mentions possible joint purchases of key goods such as AI chips and cooperation on 5G and other connectivity tools.

Tensions between the US and the EU are on the rise

Trump rejected the proposed plan, writing in his social-media post that the talks were “going nowhere” and repeated his pledge to impose the 50% blanket duty on June 1. Speaking later, Bessent said the EU proposal was “worse than other countries’” but added that he hoped the president’s warning “would light a fire under the EU.”

The two chief negotiators, EU trade head Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart, Jamieson Greer, were still due to speak by phone on Friday, officials confirmed, yet no breakthrough was announced after the call.

EU officials say their offer replies to what one described earlier as a US “wish list of unrealistic and unilateral demands.” Brussels wants Washington to promise not to add new tariffs while talks continue. It is willing to lower duties in stages or through a quota system that would keep higher levies in place only once imports pass a set volume.

The EU also proposes mutual-recognition deals in areas such as services and non-sensitive farm goods. Under such deals, each side would accept the other’s standards without changing its own rules.

At the same time, Europe has prepared a safety net. The bloc has readied tariffs on €21 billion (about $23.9 billion) of US goods in response to earlier American metal duties, though their start has been paused until mid-July. Officials say that date could be brought forward if the talks break down.

Should the dispute worsen, an extra list of tariffs on €95 billion worth of goods is waiting in reserve. Those tariffs would target industrial goods, including Boeing aircraft, US-made cars, and Kentucky bourbon.

Some member states want the European Commission to prepare even wider steps if Trump widens his threat to sectors such as computer chips and medicines.

With the calendar ticking down to the June 1 deadline and the EU’s own mid-July trigger date, diplomats on both continents say a breakthrough is needed within weeks. Until then, businesses on both sides are bracing for higher costs and fresh uncertainty.

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