Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday he hopes a new tariff threat from President Trump would speed along talks with the European Union (EU) regarding a new trade deal.
In a Friday interview with Fox News, Bessent accused the EU of not engaging in "good faith" trade negotiations with the White House. His remarks came hours after Trump said he would impose a 50 percent baseline import tax on European goods.
"I believe the president believes that the EU. proposals have not been of the same quality that we've seen from our other important trading partners," Bessent said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom."
"I'm not going to negotiate on T.V., but I would hope that this would light a fire under the EU."
Trump threatened early Friday morning to impose the 50 percent tariffs on the EU by June 1, giving European leaders barely a week to strike a deal with the White House.
Trump and his economic team are attempting to strike new trade deals with more than a dozen major trading partners before July, when his steep "Liberation Day" tariffs are set to go back into effect.
The president announced April 2 steep new tariffs on goods from nearly every foreign nation, with rates ranging above 100 percent for certain products. After weeks of insisting the tariffs would stay in place, Trump later suspended the new import taxes for 90 days to give nations time to negotiate better trade terms.
The EU is one of 18 major trading partners the U.S. has prioritized in trade talks. Trump announced earlier this month a non-binding agreement with the U.K., one of the few nations that imports more from the U.S. than it exports to the states.
Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer also struck a temporary agreement to reduce tariffs on Chinese goods with officials from Beijing as Trump attempts to negotiate a way out of his trade war with China.
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