BRUSSELS — The EU’s trade chief, Maroš Šefčovič, will fly to Washington D.C. Wednesday afternoon for talks with his U.S. counterparts, European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill confirmed to POLITICO.
The last-minute decision to head to the U.S. in person comes after Šefčovič spoke to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Tuesday. He will meet Lutnick and Greer separately, Gill said.
After insisting last week that a preliminary trade deal with Washington was imminent, the EU was stunned on Saturday when President Donald Trump pulled a U-turn and threatened to impose a 30 percent tariff on EU goods should both sides fail to seal a deal by Aug. 1.
The EU is hesitating over how strongly and how quickly to push back.
Over the weekend, the European Commission, which coordinates trade on behalf of the EU’s 27 member countries, delayed by two weeks the implementation of a first package of countermeasures targeting €21 billion in U.S. exports. That pause will now expire by Aug. 6.
The Commission on Monday sent a list to EU capitals outlining €72 billion in U.S. goods to be targeted in a second round of trade countermeasures. That list still needs final approval from member countries.
A technical team from the EU is also currently in Washington.
This story has been updated.
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