US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (Jun 17) said Japan was being “tough” in trade talks and the European Union had not yet offered what he considered a fair deal, as a team led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stayed at the G7 meeting in Canada to keep working on trade issues after Trump’s abrupt early departure.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that the EU would need to offer Washington “a good deal” or face higher tariffs.
Trump spoke after leaving the Group of Seven (G7) summit early, in order to focus on the Middle East. He told reporters Bessent was staying on in Kananaskis, Alberta, to keep talking with counterparts on trade.
White House officials said US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett also remained in Canada and would be meeting with their counterparts. They said Trump met informally with all G7 members, but had not seen the leaders of India, Australia or Mexico, who were also slated to meet him in Canada this week.
“We’re talking, but I don’t feel that they’re offering a fair deal yet,” Trump said of the European Union. “They’re either going to make a good deal or they’ll just pay whatever we say they have to pay.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters on the sidelines of the G7 summit that the objective was still to reach a deal before higher reciprocal tariffs go into effect on Jul 9 after a 90-day pause.
“It’s complex but we are advancing, that is good, and I push hard to pick up more speed, so we are mixed in the negotiations, and we will see what the end brings,” she said.
PHARMA LEVIES COMING
Trump also said there was a chance of a trade deal between Washington and Japan.
“They’re tough, the Japanese are tough, but ultimately you have to understand we’re just going to send a letter saying ‘this is what you’re going to pay, otherwise you don’t have to do business with us’. But there’s a chance,” he said.
Trump also said pharmaceutical tariffs were coming very soon, repeating a threat he has made repeatedly to impose import taxes on medical goods in a bid to force drug makers to rebase production to the US.
“We’re going to be doing pharmaceuticals very soon. That’s going to bring all the companies back into America,” he said. “It’s going to bring most of them back into, at least partially back in.”
Matthew Goodman, a former senior US official and fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said it was always a “stretch goal” for Trump to reach any deals at the G7 summit beyond finalizing the terms of a limited deal with Britain.
The US-UK deal, announced by Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Canada, reaffirmed quotas and tariff rates on British automobiles and eliminated tariffs on the UK aerospace sector, but the issue of steel and aluminum remained unresolved.