The comment comes after he had announced that those tariffs would be paused until July 9 if no deal is made.
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his announcement to place 50 percent tariffs on European Union imports into the United States was a success because it pushed the 27-nation bloc to move faster on a deal.
Trump last week warned that he would impose the 50 percent rate starting on June 1 but said in a social media post over the weekend that it would be pushed back to July 9 amid trade negotiations.
In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, the president indicated he is pleased with how it played out and is also “extremely satisfied with the 50 percent Tariff allotment on the European Union, especially since they were slow walking (to put it mildly!), our negotiations with them.”
“I have just been informed that the E.U. has called to quickly establish meeting dates. This is a positive event, and I hope that they will, FINALLY, like my same demand to China, open up the European Nations for Trade with the United States of America,” he said.
He added a caveat that he is “empowered to ‘SET A DEAL’ for Trade into the United States if we are unable to make a deal, or are treated unfairly,” according to the post.
In a social media post last week before he delayed the imposition of the duties, Trump had threatened to impose the 50 percent tariff on EU goods, asserting that the bloc had been “very difficult to deal with” on trade and that negotiations were “going nowhere.”
A call between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday led to the delay until July.
EU Commission spokeswoman Paula Pinho told a news conference that von der Leyen and Trump agreed to fast-track the negotiations. The result of the call means that “there is now also a new impetus for the negotiations, and we will take it from there … from our side, we always said that we were ready to make a deal,” she said.
