Description: European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen has stated that she had a positive exchange with US President Donald Trump regarding the ongoing trade negotiations. Trump announced the extension of the tariff negotiations deadline to 01 Aug effectively buying time for countries to conclude trade negotiations on a positive note. The EU has resisted attempts from China to devise closer trade partnership as it remains aligned with its traditionally closest ally, aiming at securing mutually beneficial trade agreement that would not jeopardize other sections of EU’s strategic partnership with the US. Trump also announced that he would impose additional 25% tariffs on Japan and South Korea as negotiations continued to stall over key trade differences entangled within complicated strategic ties.
Impact: Since the start of the trade war, the EU firmly held their position of protecting the bloc’s economic interests and positioning on the global market. Trump’s conditioned foreign policies have forced the Union to adopt a different position in the trade negotiations which could indicate that the Union might agree towards accepting concessions which were previously firmly rejected. Since the NATO Summit, the European bloc of countries and the US reconciliated ties and repaired their transatlantic partnership on a nominal level, aiming at defying conventional geopolitical adversaries such as China and Russia. The US and the EU are expected to conclude a trade deal before the extended 01 Aug deadline, which would reaffirm their strategic partnership and stabilize other levels of their bilateral partnership.