European Union assumes its faces 15% tariffs in the US from Friday. But a key text still isn’t ready

BRUSSELS AP The European Union is working on the assumption that the United States will impose a tariff on majority of EU exports from Friday even though the two sides have yet to complete a key document clarifying how the agreement will operate Last weekend U S President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reached a political agreement that would see duties imposed on around two-thirds of EU produce worth around billion euros billion The tariffs are set to enter force on Friday but as of Thursday the two sides were still working on a joint declaration that would lay out the terms of their understanding European Commission spokesman Olof Gill explained The document wouldn t be legally binding It is the clear understanding of the European Union that the U S will implement the agreed across the board tariff ceiling of Gill announced The commission negotiates arrangement terms on behalf of the the EU s member countries Carve outs were agreed for a range of strategic goods like aircraft and aircraft parts certain chemicals various drug generics or natural tools Gill declared that it is also our clear understanding that the U S will implement the exemptions to the ceiling The U S has made these commitments Now it s up to the U S to implement them The ball is in their court Gill declared European wine and spirits won t escape the levy on Friday but may do later as negotiations on additional exemptions to the new tariff regime continue he mentioned Before Sunday s meeting Trump had threatened the bloc with tariffs which the EU s top transaction official declared would effectively mean the end of exchange between them Over the last three months the commission drew up retaliatory measures worth tens of billions of euros to enact should the talks fail Those countermeasures are due to take effect on Aug but Gill stated that if everything goes as expected they would be frozen If we have reached a deal we don t need the retaliatory tariffs he mentioned Source