Trump, EU’s von der Leyen agree to meet, says European Commission

BRUSSELS: US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on Saturday during a short exchange on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral to meet at a later stage, von der Leyen’s spokesperson said.

“In their brief exchange, President von der Leyen and President Trump agreed to meet,” Paula Pinho said in a post on X. No further details were immediately available.

While Trump has received several other European leaders, von der Leyen has not managed to arrange a meeting with the US president since his return to the White House in January -- despite the fact that the European Commission is responsible for the bloc’s trade policy and issues such as tariffs.

The US imposed 25 per cent tariffs on EU cars, steel and aluminium in March and 20 per cent tariffs on other EU goods in April. It then halved the 20 per cent rate until July 8, setting a 90-day window for talks to reach a more comprehensive tariff deal.

In response, the 27-nation EU suspended its own plans to impose retaliatory tariffs on some U.S. goods and proposed zero duties for all industrial goods on both sides.

On Friday, EU Economic Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said the zero-tariff offer had met with only moderate US interest, and that the US and the EU still needed a lot of work to reach a deal that would avert the imposition of tariffs from both sides.