The EU and the White House meet without agreeing on major tariff changes.

WashingtonThe meeting between European Union trade chief Maros Sefcovic and his US counterparts in Washington concluded without major changes regarding the tariffs Donald Trump wants to impose on European products. Sefcovic traveled to the US capital on Tuesday to try to redirect the reciprocal tariffs the Republican president wants to implement next week, April 2. The EU diplomat described the conversation he had with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other members of the US administration as "substantial." However, he did not provide any further details.

"The EU's priority is a fair and balanced agreement instead of unjustified tariffs. We share the goal of industrial strength on both sides," Sefcovic wrote in a post on X on Tuesday. The representative of the 27 had traveled to Washington with the aim of redirecting the imposition of tariffs that are expected to have a strong impact on European markets. For its part, the White House has not issued any statement regarding the meeting.

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The two previous discussions with Trump officials had not yet altered the US president's plans to increase US import tariffs to match the rates charged by major trading partners and counter their non-tariff trade barriers. Sefcovic already visited Washington last February and made no progress in attempts to halt or delay the tariffs' implementation.

Impact on the automotive sector

The automotive sector could be one of the hardest hit by the reciprocal tariff policy Trump announced last week. While the United States applies a 2.5% tariff on imports of European sedans and SUVs, the EU imposes a 10% tariff on vehicles imported from the US.

The memorandum the US president signed ordered a response to all tariffs on US products, including taxes that are "unfair, discriminatory, or extraterritorial"—a category that includes the European VAT—as well as those that impose costs on businesses, workers, and consumers that deviate from their market value. The US president targeted VAT and wants to add it to his tariff calculations: this would mean rates on European vehicles would increase from 2.5% to 30%.