WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump will make his trade deal decisions this week even as separate negotiations with China and the European Union continue, U.S. Commerce chief Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday ahead of Trump’s self-imposed Aug. 1 deadline. U.S. and EU officials were still discussing steel and aluminum tariffs as well as digital services […]
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Trump eyes Aug 1 trade deals as EU, China talks continue, US Commerce chief says
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump will make his trade deal decisions this week even as separate negotiations with China and the European Union continue, U.S. Commerce chief Howard Lutnick said on Tuesday ahead of Trump’s self-imposed Aug. 1 deadline.
U.S. and EU officials were still discussing steel and aluminum tariffs as well as digital services regulations following their framework announced on Sunday, Lutnick told CNBC in an interview, adding that talks with China were also “their own thing”.
“But for the rest of the world, we’re going to have things done by Friday,” he said in the interview.
Asked about remaining uncertainties surrounding the U.S.-EU agreement, Lutnick said Trump was working “to get things done now.”
He said pharmaceuticals were a key part of the EU deal so that medicines made in European countries—home to several major drugmakers—would see their products included in the 15% tariff.
“It was important for them to have pharmaceuticals be part of the deal at 15% because President Trump is going to come out in the next two weeks with his pharmaceutical policy, and it is going to be higher,” he said.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Andrea Shalal)