<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Economy, Trade, and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, declared this Monday that the EU must "intensify efforts" to reach an agreement with the United States following US President Donald Trump's threat to raise tariffs on European products to 30%.</strong></h4> An agreement with the US is "still" "within our reach," and therefore, "we must intensify our efforts in the coming weeks to be able to reach the scenario that is most beneficial for everyone, which would be an agreement with the United States," Cuerpo told the press in Brussels upon his arrival at the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting on trade. "We are in a situation where we are pushing to reach an agreement with the United States (...). We only have two weeks left to advance and accelerate these negotiations in Europe and all Member States,” he added. Furthermore, according to Cuerpo, “we must continue to make progress, in parallel, in the implementation and preparation of possible rebalancing measures, which could be implemented, and this agreement scenario ultimately fails to materialize.” According to the minister, “the rest of the major trading partners are in a similar situation.” Therefore, he warned, the EU must “expand” its “network of strategic partners.” “We must move forward to be able to ratify the agreement with Mercosur before the end of the year,” he warned. “We hope that everyone is aware of the importance” of the need for this agreement. “I believe that now is not the time to talk about forming a common front, but rather to advance these negotiations and strengthen contact with our partners to deepen our trade relations with them, both to the west, with Mercosur, and to the east, in this case with Indonesia,” he added, one day after the European Commission announced a political agreement with Indonesia to move toward a trade agreement. <h5><strong>Sefcovic</strong></h5> European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic warned this Monday that the tariffs announced by Trump would make trade between the EU and the US impossible. “To be frank, a 30% tariff would, in fact, be prohibitive for mutual trade,” the commissioner declared upon his arrival at the Foreign Affairs Council meeting. “The uncertainty created by unjustified tariffs cannot persist indefinitely, and we must therefore be prepared for anything,” he continued. Therefore, he insisted, the EU must continue working on preparing, “if necessary,” for “proportionate” countermeasures. In any case, Sefcovic believes a “negotiated solution” is still possible in Washington and specified that he will address this issue with his US counterparts this Monday, at the end of the ECA. “The European Union has engaged in these talks in good faith and with full intensity throughout the entire process,” he stated. For his part, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, Foreign Minister of Denmark (the current president of the EU Council), praised Sefcovic's "exceptional work" "under very difficult circumstances" and noted that "the US represents around 13% of global trade." Therefore, he warned, "there is another 87% left," which indicates that there are "opportunities in other parts of the world to reach out to Europe." In this regard, in addition to the political trade agreement with Indonesia, the Danish presidency has set its sights on "getting Mercosur across the finish line" before the end of the year.
