Ninety deals in ninety days does not want to go for Trump yet

Like every war, Trumps trade war also has fog of war. Three weeks after his declaration of war in the rose garden of the White House, the situation is unclear. How much area have the ‘enemies’ of the US price? Has the attacker himself reduced all his demands? In short, what has the tax offensive yielded so far, apart from uncertainty about future trade flows?

The Trump government had the ambition to close ninety deals in ninety days. In the American press, it is questioned whether she will get it. Shortly after the announcement of the taxes, Trump introduced ninety days to give countries a chance to talk to Washington.

According to Trump, ninety countries have now reported that want to negotiate. This week alone, conversations with 34 countries were planned. 18 countries have presented written proposals. « A lot of progress has been made, » said spokesperson Karoline Leavitt. The negotiators are working on Trump Speed« As far as we know, no conversations have been completed yet.

Consultation about trade agreements is always complicated. Negotiations quickly take more than a year and then often for years pass before the agreements come into force.

EU wants clarity after offer

Now it seems to be an extra difficulty that the US does not always know exactly what they want. European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis (Economics) said this week that « more clarity about the expectations on the American side » is desirable. The EU, he said at a conference in Washington, has made a number of proposals, but did not receive a clear feedback on that.

Soon after Trumps input duties show, a lot of attention went to Japan, which stood in the front row to start conversations. Negotiations with Tokyo were seen as a test case. But the Japanese negotiator left Washington last week without an agreement and the Japanese prime minister openly spoke his concerns about the requirements that the US set this week.

The US has threatened Japan with import duties of 24 percent, but they have postponed, like all so -called ‘reciprocal’ levies, to the beginning of July. In addition, the ‘basic rate’ of 10 percent that applies to every country also applies to Japan and the Japanese car industry looks at a special car tax of 25 percent. In addition, the two countries have disagreement over the course of the Yen.

Trump personally got involved last week with the negotiations with Japan and wrote on social media afterwards that there was’Big Progress« Was booked. According to Trump, the conversations were not just about import duties. The reimbursement that Japan has to pay for the presence of American soldiers would also have been discussed.

Vice president JD Vance was optimistic this week after a visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from India. They came the goal and structure of a future trade agreement (Terms of Reference) corresponding. In other words: they laid the foundation for further conversations. India hopes to double the trade with the US between now and 2030. Vance wants India to buy more weapons from the US.

Conversations with the big competitor China do not seem to have gotten going. The US has announced an input tax of 145 percent, to which China responded with a rate of 125 percent. Trump would prefer to negotiate with Xi Jinping, it is called, but he only wants to open the conversation personally if the contours of a deal are on the table.

This week, however, Trump tried to remove the pressure somewhat from the boiler with the remark that the taxes for China will certainly be lower after negotiations, but that they will not fall to zero. Finance Minister Scott Bessent is said to have described trade discussions with China as ‘struggling’, but he is also convinced that the two can come closer together.

Last week, after a harmonious visit by Italian Prime Minister Meloni to Trump, people were somewhat relieved last week. « There will be a trade agreement, 100 percent sure, » Trump had said on that occasion. To be sure, he said it is one fairy had to be agreed and that he was not in a hurry.

European countermeasures

The conversations between the US and the European Union do not seem to go smoothly yet. The EU had threatened with countermeasures, but also suspended it during the negotiations. Europe has proposed, among other things, to reduce mutual taxes on industrial goods to zero and offered to buy more LNG in the US. Commissioner Dombrovskis fine -taught in Washington that according to Brussels calculations the economic damage for the EU is much smaller than for the US. Whether that means that the EU thinks that time is in favor of Brussels, he did not want to say during an audience interview.

On behalf of the EU, the negotiations are led by Commissioner for Trade Maros Sefcovic. Trump and committee chairman Ursula von der Leyen have not had contact since Trumps.

The relationship between the two important trading partners did not immediately become easier on Wednesday because the EU Apple and Meta imposed a total of 700 million euros on a fine because they have violated a new European law for large tech companies. Trump, who hates the European Union, had previously criticized the Digital Markets Act. Analysts assumed that the EU had imposed much lower penalties than are possible under the new law not to put pressure on the relationship unnecessarily.

To share

Mail the editors