As U.S. President Donald Trump advances on trade deals with the U.K. and even with arch nemesis China, the European Union is being left out in the cold — laying bare the profound rupture between the once-close allies. 

Despite several attempts at negotiating with Washington to remove Trump’s tariffs on European goods, the European Commission, which handles trade policy on behalf of the EU’s 27 member countries, has yet to achieve a breakthrough.

Trump imposed a 10 percent baseline tariff in early April, along with 25 percent levies on cars and metals. If the two sides fail to reach a deal by early July, a higher tariff of 20 percent would kick in as Trump seeks to even out a transatlantic trade deficit, which he blames squarely on the EU.

“Europe is not a priority for the U.S. I don’t think that in any field — be it trade or defense or anything else actually — Europe is a priority. And of course, that is a bit of a surprise for Europeans in [their] discussions with U.S. officials,” said Agathe Demarais, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Trump struck a pact with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer late last week to reduce U.S. tariffs on U.K. auto and steel exports — the first such move since the U.S. president imposed a swath of tariffs in early April on goods from across the world. 

And on Monday, China nailed its own breakthrough, with Washington and Beijing slashing their tariffs to 30 percent and 10 percent, respectively, on each other’s goods. 

Hours later, Trump called the EU “nastier than China.” His vitriol is enduring: “The European Union was formed in order to screw the United States,” he said in March before launching his full-scale trade war. 

As Washington cuts deals with friend and foe alike, the appeals for tariff relief from Brussels are going unanswered. The bloc — and the €1.6 trillion transatlantic trade relationship — are languishing at the back of the line.

“Countries like India and Japan, and even Vietnam, are higher on the priority list in the U.S. right now than the EU, because they know it’s difficult and they want quick wins right now,” said Josh Lipsky, senior director at the Washington-based Atlantic Council think tank. 

“And that means different things in different countries, and especially with the EU. It’s a very difficult picture to understand what a win would look like.” 

Hard to get 

Since Trump took office in January, the Commission’s chief trade negotiator Maroš Šefčovič has met three times with U.S. counterparts Howard Lutnick, Jamieson Greer and Kevin Hassett.

Despite the all-smiles photo-ops, the discussions have yielded little more than confusion.

That’s frustrating European officials, who have the impression that their U.S. counterparts lack clear negotiating objectives and are making things up as they go along.

“It is absurd,” said one EU official with direct knowledge of the negotiations.

“There should still be some weeks before a deal can be possible, because the U.S. is seemingly changing their focus many many times,” said the official, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the closed-door talks.

With serious negotiations yet to start, the EU is having to tiptoe around the changing moods of its biggest trading partner. To little effect. 

“I don’t care what some of the counterparties may say in terms of not knowing what we want,” said Republican Senator Bill Hagerty. U.S. Trade Representative Greer added Hagerty, “has been clear about what we want.”  

Trying to break the deadlock, the Commission last week dangled a list of potential concessions — including regulatory easing and joint efforts to curb Chinese overproduction. 

It also put into play retaliatory tariffs on €95 billion worth of U.S. goods if talks stall — which is far less than the Commission’s estimate of the extent of Trump’s current and threatened tariffs at €549 billion.

Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro slammed the EU move as unconstructive and provocative.

Still, as the Trump administration faces pressure at home to show progress on trade deals, U.S. officials are projecting optimism on the transatlantic front.

“The United States continues making progress in reciprocal trade negotiations with many willing partners. We have also had frequent consultations with the EU and EU Member State governments on how to work towards a more fair and reciprocal trade relationship,” a USTR official said.  

Uphill battle

As the Trump administration celebrated its first trade “deal” last week — an agreement with the U.K. to allow billions in U.S. goods into its market in exchange for lower tariff rates on certain products — one thing became clear: The U.S. intends to maintain a baseline tariff.

That indicates countries will be left to negotiate around the other, sectoral tariffs Trump has introduced, including the 25 percent levies on automobiles, steel and aluminum, with more to come on products like pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, critical minerals and lumber.

The Commission, on the contrary, is seeing greater flexibility on Trump’s 10 percent baseline tariff than on his sectoral duties. 

“Our sense is that the U.S. has flexibility on the 10 percent. I would say the [25 percent tariff on cars or metals] seem to be a bit more driven by this perspective of reshoring and reindustrialization where they pursue an industrial policy objective,” a senior Commission official said last week. 

Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission president, said last week she would only be willing to meet with Trump if there’s a “concrete” trade package that can be negotiated. 

While the diplomatic freeze stresses how little sway the EU holds in Trump’s view, the bloc wants to use it to its own benefit — taking an approach of “strategic patience.” 

“No partner of the United States has gone as far down the road in laying out their positions as the EU,” another Commission official said. “On that basis, we won’t be starting from scratch when the Americans are ready for serious talks.”