The EU said that reaching a trade agreement with the US is just around the corner

The European Commission said that reaching a trade settlement with the United States through negotiations is just around the corner. Meanwhile, EU member states approved a list of countermeasures against US goods.

Reuters reported that a spokesperson for the European Commission told reporters on Thursday (July 24) regarding the issue of tariff negotiations between the United States and Europe: "Our focus is to achieve negotiation results with the United States..." We believe that such a result can be achieved.

Eu member states voted on the same day to approve tariffs on 93 billion US dollars (about 118.8 billion Singapore dollars) worth of US goods, in order to take countermeasures against the US in the event of the breakdown of negotiations.

The European Commission has repeatedly stated that its top priority at present is to reach an agreement with the US side to avoid the 30% tariff proposed by US President Trump on EU products starting from August 1.

According to an EU official, if the negotiations fail, the EU's first set of countermeasures is scheduled to come into effect on August 7. The second set of countermeasures will come into effect in two phases, on September 7th and February 7th next year respectively.

The EU approved the first batch of countermeasures against US goods in April earlier, but for the sake of tariff negotiations with Washington, the EU has not yet initiated these measures.

Although the European Commission claims to be very close to reaching an agreement with the United States, the White House has indicated that discussions on the trade deal remain "speculation".