US President Donald Trump speaks at the Small Business Summit in the East Room of the White House on May 4, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Kylie Cooper | Reuters
President Donald Trump said he would give the European Union until July 4 to ratify a trade deal with the United States and threatened to raise tariffs to “much higher” levels if the 27-member bloc fails to do so.
In a post on Truth Social late Thursday, President Trump announced the new trade deadline during an “excellent phone call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in which he said the two leaders agreed that Iran could never acquire a nuclear weapon.
The conversation came shortly after the US president pledged to raise tariffs on cars and trucks imported from the EU to 25% over the EU’s failure to abide by the terms of an agreement signed at a Scottish golf course last July.
“I have been patiently waiting for the EU to deliver on its side of the historic trade deal, the largest trade deal ever agreed at Turnberry in Scotland. The promise has been made that the EU will deliver on its side of the deal, and that tariffs will go to zero as agreed!” Trump said.
“I agreed to give her until the 250th birthday of our country. Otherwise, unfortunately, the tariffs would immediately jump to a much higher level,” he added.
It was not immediately clear whether President Trump was indicating that the tariffs would apply to all EU goods, or whether the increases would apply only to cars. But his latest comments signal a retreat from last week’s threat to impose higher tariffs on cars and trucks imported from the region.
The EU’s Ms von der Leyen, via X, said the EU remained “fully committed” to implementing the trade deal. “We are on track to reduce tariffs by early July,” he added.
“We still have a long way to go.”
Hours after President Trump’s trade threats against the European Union, the U.S. Trade Court has ruled that Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs are not justified under U.S. law.
This was another blow to the Trump administration’s trade policy after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the president could not impose broader, double-digit tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after announcing the trade deal between the United States and the European Union in Turnberry, Scotland, England, on July 27, 2025.
Evelyn HochsteinReuter
Bernd Lange, the European Parliament’s chief trade negotiator, said on Thursday that EU lawmakers and governments had made “good progress” in reaching a deal that would cut the levy to the United States to zero, but added that “there is still a way to go.”
Trade negotiators are scheduled to meet again on May 10 for the next round of negotiations.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Bloomberg earlier in the week that he expects the EU to remain “on our side of the trade deal” agreed to last July.
