Trump says he’s in “no rush” to reach any trade deals because of the revenues his tariffs are generating. But he also suggested while meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni at the White House on Thursday that it’d be easy to find an agreement with the European Union.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is in “no rush” to reach any trade deals because of the revenues his tariffs are generating, but suggested while meeting with Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni that it would be easy to find an agreement with the European Union and others.
His administration has indicated that offers are coming from other countries and it is possible to do 90 deals during the 90-day tariff pause, but the president played down the likelihood of an accelerated timeline, saying any agreements would come “at a certain point.”
“We’re in no rush,” said Trump, hinting that he has leverage because other countries want access to U.S. consumers.
Meloni’s meeting with Trump will test her mettle as a bridge between the EU and the United States. She is the first European leader to have face-to-face talks with him since he announced and then partially suspended 20% tariffs on European exports.
Meloni secured the meeting as Italy’s leader, but she also has, in a sense, been “knighted” to represent the EU at a critical juncture in the fast-evolving trade war that has stoked recession fears. She was in close contact with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before the trip, and “the outreach is … closely coordinated,” a commission spokeswoman said.
“We know we are in a difficult moment,” Meloni said this week in Rome. “Most certainly, I am well aware of what I represent, and what I am defending.”
The EU is defending what it calls “the most important commercial relationship in the world,’’ with annual trade with the U.S. totaling 1.6 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion). The Trump administration has said its tariffs would enable trade negotiations that would box out China, the world’s dominant manufacturer. But Trump maintains that rivals and allies alike have taken advantage of the U.S. on trade.
Trade negotiations fall under the authority of the EU Commission, which is pushing for a zero-for-zero tariff deal with Washington. Trump administration officials, in talks with the EU, have yet to publicly show signs of relenting on the president’s insistence that a baseline 10% tariff be charged on all foreign imports.
