D. EU vows to defend its interests after Trump calls for 50% tariffs

After US President Donald Trump said he recommends imposing 50% tariffs on European Union (EU) goods due to stalled trade talks, the bloc's Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič called for a trade relationship based on "mutual respect".

Maroš Šefčovič wrote on the „X“ network after talks with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that the EU is „fully engaged and committed to reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement“.

„EU-US trade is unparalleled and must be based not on threats but on mutual respect," Šefčovič wrote. We are ready to defend our interests.

D. Trump said on Friday that trade talks with Brussels are "going nowhere" and he wants to impose a 50% tariff on all imports from the EU from 1 June. "I am not looking for a deal," Mr Trump said later in Washington. He added that "there will be no tariffs if they build their factories here".