Trump now says he can reach a trade deal with the EU, but that "it doesn't matter."

BarcelonaUS President Donald Trump asserted this Wednesday (already Thursday in Europe) that his administration could close a new trade agreement with the European Union, although he added that it "doesn't matter" whether or not a pact is ultimately reached to avoid the mutual imposition of tariffs between the two powers. "We could reach an agreement with Europe," he declared in an interview, indicating with indifference that he didn't care too much about the outcome of the negotiations: "You know, I just don't care."

"The EU has been brutal and now they're being very nice," the US president said of the negotiations with EU representatives: "They want to reach an agreement and it will be very different from the one we've had for years." In fact,The European authorities have tried to keep the negotiating process open. to avoid by agreement an increase in trade tariffs that would have a very negative impact on European industry.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has threatened all kinds of tariffs against the vast majority of countries in the world, but his priority target has been the main trading partners of the US, including the EU (also Mexico, Canada, China, the United States and Japan), trade-friendly. In fact, reducing his country's trade deficit has been one of the magnate's obsessions in his second term.

For most countries - the only Notable exception is China—, Trump has announced tariffs, but has always ended up postponing their entry date to continue negotiations. The US has already approved global tariffs on aluminum, automobiles, automotive components, and steel.

In the case of Europe, April 2nd - a day that was named the day of liberation—Trump even announced a 10% tariff on a long list of states and of the additional 20% in the EU, but days later announced a 90-day moratorium for the entire world. Then, on June 1, he announced that the EU would receive a 50% tariff, but put it on hold again two days later until July 9. On July 8, he announced that he would send a letter to the EU, and on July 12, he again spoke about tariffs on the EU blog, but this time 30% if no agreement is reached by August 1.

Letter to 150 small states

In addition, Trump has announced that he will send letters to the governments of more than 150 countries announcing the imposition of tariffs worth "10% or 15%" on their exports to the US. "We will send a payment notice to more than 150 countries and that notice will indicate what the tariff rate will be," the US president said in statements to the press at the White House.

"It will be the same for all of them, for this group," he said about the tariff. Regarding which countries will receive the notice, Trump clarified that "they are not large and they don't do a lot of business."

In a later interview with the television network Real America's Voice, the US tycoon indicated that the tariff "will probably be 10% or 15%": "We have not decided yet."

The White House has already sent letters to countries in recent days informing them of the imposition of tariffs on their products starting August 1. Trump has been circulating them through his Truth Social account, although he describes them as "agreements."