Catherine Gaschka, Sam McNeil, Paul Wiseman, Associated Press
PARIS (AP) – Europe and the US are meeting in Paris to negotiate a settlement of tensions tariff flows with global economic impacts between two global economic powers.
Maloszsivchovich, the European Union’s top trade negotiator, met on Wednesday with his US counterpart, US trade representative Jamieson Greer, on the sidelines of an organisation’s meeting for economic cooperation and development.
“We’re moving in the right direction at a pace,” Sifchovich said at a press conference. He said that the ongoing technical meeting between the EU and US negotiators in Washington will soon be followed by a video conference between him and Greer, “a charter for the future.”
Brussels and Washington are unlikely to reach a substantial trade agreement in Paris. The problems of splitting them are too difficult to resolve quickly.
According to the US Department of Commerce, President Donald Trump regularly shouts about the US sustained trade deficit with the European Union.
Trump often denounces the gap between what the US sells and what they buy from Europe through unfair trade practices, and picks up a 10% tax on EU imported cars for criticism. The US was at 2.5% until Trump raised it to 25% in April. The EU has overcome almost everything, as it advocates for purchasing US services, particularly in the technology sector.
The EU said on Monday it was preparing a “measure” against the US after last week’s Trump administration’s shocking tariff rattled the global steel market and complicated the continued, broad tariff negotiations between Brussels and Washington.
The EU has provided the US with “zero of zero” transactions, with both sides ending tariffs on industrial products, including cars. Trump rejected the idea, but EU officials say it is still on the table.
The EU can purchase more liquefied natural gas and defense items from the US and cut down on car missions, but will not interfere with calls to dispose of VAT similar to sales tax.
“We still have a few weeks to negotiate this discussion,” French Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin said in Paris on Wednesday before the OECD meeting. “If discussions and negotiations are not successful, Europe can also compete with American products and services.”
Greta Peish, the general adviser to the Biden administration’s US trade representative, said the Zero for for Zero could provide a way for the Trump administration to advance, saying it is “looking for reasons why it’s not leviing tariffs on the EU.”
But Peish, now a partner at Wiley Lane’s law firm, thinks “how the US is motivated to do business with the EU.”
One of his angry goals is VAT, similar to US state sales tax.
Trump and his advisors consider unfair protectionism because they are imposed on US products. However, VAT is set at the national level rather than the EU and is applied similarly to domestic and imported products, so it is not traditionally considered a trade barrier. There is little chance that the government will overhaul the tax system to appease Trump.
Similarly, Europeans are likely to acknowledge in the US to dispose of food and safety regulations that Washington considers as trade barriers. These include the ban on hormone-raised beef, chlorinated chicken and genetically modified foods.
“When you start talking about safety standards for chickens, GMOs, or cars, you’re talking about how the country chooses to regulate its economy,” Peish said. “We think it’s protectionists. They think it keeps their citizens healthy… That’s been a painful point for 60 years.”
McNeill reported from Washington, DC, reported by Barcelona and Wiseman.
Original issue: June 4th, 2025, 7:41am EDT
