EU official meets with Trump counterparts to resolve tariff threats

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hoping to head off a potential trade conflict, a top European Union official stressed the importance of active engagement and fairness in trade during a four-hour meeting with Trump administration officials.

“The top objective as it was presented to us yesterday by our American partners is reciprocity,” Maroš Šefčovič, the European commissioner for trade and economic security, told reporters at a Thursday briefing.

Šefčovič met on Wednesday with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett and Jamieson Greer, President Donald Trump's nominee to be the U.S. trade representative.

Trump has thrown the decades long partnership between the U.S. and Europe into turmoil by pledging to charge higher taxes on imports from Europe that he says would match the tariffs faced by American products.

But Trump's plan for fair tariffs would also include the value added tax — which is akin to a sales tax — charged in Europe that could drastically push up import taxes and potentially trigger a broader trade conflict if the EU imposed retaliatory measures. A broader trade war risks both an economic slowdown and higher inflation that could create financial challenges for millions of families and potentially hurt political support for Trump, as voters in 2024's election specifically wanted him to lower price pressures.

Trump has also proposed separate sectoral tariffs on autos, pharmaceutical drugs and computer chips, in addition to having already imposed 25% steel and aluminum tariffs with no avenues to provide exceptions or exemptions.

The U.S. president also has tariffs ready on Mexico and Canada over his claims that more should be done on illegal immigration and drug smuggling, though he suspended those tariffs for 30 days for ongoing talks. The import taxes that could potentially harm the U.S. auto sector and other industries could potentially begin in March.

At Thursday's White House news briefing, Hassett said that a Mexican delegation had talks with Lutnick and him about resolving the issues.

“We want trade to be fair,” Hassett said.

The EU official tried in his conversation with White House officials to equate the value added tax as similar to a sales tax as its paid by the final consumer, but he said that the issue had not been resolved.

Šefčovič also said they discussed the industrial overcapacity of China, particularly in steel, and that the U.S. and EU should work together to tackle that problem, instead of targeting each other.

He stressed that the meeting ended with a focus on looking for ways to “generate positive momentum,” adding that the EU would like to “see where we can, like, move first and fast, because I really would like to avoid the pain of measures and countermeasures.”

The EU official said it was critical to establish a personal relationship with his U.S. counterparts.

“I’m glad that it happened and that we could have such an intense meeting,” he said. “Now, I think we will both be thinking how to keep the momentum going on and how to hopefully avoid I would say, the pain.”