EU trade chief Sefcovic: Europe ready to make Trump a 50 billion euros offer, FT reports

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(Reuters) -European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said Brussels wants to increase purchases of goods from United States by 50 billion euros ($56.46 billion) to address a “problem” in the trade relationship, adding the bloc is making “certain progress” towards striking a deal, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Sefcovic in an interview with the newspaper suggested the bloc would not accept Washington keeping in place 10% tariffs on its goods as a fair resolution to trade talks.

The U.S. imposed 25% tariffs on EU cars, steel and aluminium in March and 20% tariffs on other EU goods in April. It then halved the 20% 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.

“If what we are looking at as a problem in the deficit is 50 billion euros, I believe that we can really . . . solve this problem very quickly through LNG purchases, through some agricultural products like soyabeans, or other areas,” Sefcovic said, according to the FT report.

However, Sefcovic cautioned that it would be “very difficult” to reach a deal that was “clearly good and acceptable for our member states and our European parliament”.

The European Commission negotiates trade measures on behalf of the EU’s member states.

EU was also willing to collaborate with the U.S. to help address the impact of China’s export surge as a sweetener for a trade deal, the trade chief added.

($1 = 0.8857 euros)

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, editing by Deepa Babington)