Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick agreed with President Donald Trump’s “50-50” odds of striking a trade deal with the European Commission ahead of an Aug. 1 deadline, saying that the main question is whether the 27-country bloc will offer the president “the right deal.”
Lutnick appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and was asked about Trump’s comments on the chances of a deal ahead of the president’s meeting with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Scotland on Sunday.
“If the president puts the odds at 50-50, those are the odds,” Lutnick said. “Look, Europe needs to make a deal and wants to make a deal, and they are flying to Scotland to make a deal with President Trump.”
“The question is, do they offer President Trump a good enough deal that is worth it for him to step off of the 30 percent tariffs that he set?” the commerce secretary continued.
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Trump has said “we have a 50-50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50-50 chance of making a deal with the EU.” The bloc of 27 member states currently faces a tariff rate of 30% if a deal is not reached by the deadline.
When Trump met with von der Leyen later Sunday, the EU chief agreed with Trump’s odds of a deal being reached before Aug. 1.
“It is about rebalancing,” von der Leyen told reporters as she sat next to Trump. “You can call it fairness, you can call it rebalancing. We have a surplus and the United States has a deficit, and we have to rebalance it.”
Trump told reporters that the lowest tariff rate the U.S. could agree to with the bloc was 15%.
As the two parties continue trade talks, Lutnick said that “the right deal” would see the bloc opening their markets and “really negotiate with [Trump] the right way.”
“It’s up to President Trump, who’s the leader of this negotiating table. We set the table. The team sets the table. But Donald Trump does his negotiations by himself,” he said, pointing to Trump’s “masterclass” in trade negotiations with Japan.
The U.S. and Japan came to a historic $550 billion trade deal last week that will see Japan open its country to trade in things like cars, trucks, rice and other agricultural products, as well as pay reciprocal tariffs of 15% to the U.S., under the deal.
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The White House later confirmed to Fox News that under the trade deal Japan would buy 100 Boeing planes, boost rice purchases by 75%, buy $8 billion in agricultural and other products, and hike defense spending with U.S. firms to $17 billion annually, up from $14 billion.
The deadline for the Trump administration to begin imposing tariffs remains set for Aug. 1 and will not shift, according to Lutnick.
“So no extensions, no more grace periods,” he said. “Aug. 1st, the tariffs are set, they’ll go into place. Customs will start collecting the money and off we go.”
Lutnick added that countries that have failed to reach a deal can still talk to Trump even after the deadline passes.
“I mean, he’s always willing to listen,” Lutnick said of the president, adding that “whether they can make him happy is another question.”
