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EU offered 'zero-for-zero' deal to US weeks before tariff announcement

Cars and other goods were to be included, according to EU trade commissioner, who says offer is still on table

Maros Šefčovič, the EU commissioner for trade, said he had proposed zero tariffs on cars and a range of industrial goods, such as pharmaceutical products, rubber and machinery, during his first meeting with the US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, on 19 February. On Monday, a European Commission vice-president, Stéphane Séjourné, told French Inter Radio he had “a hope” that bourbon would be removed from the list in the coming hours, saying “the message has been taken that the economic impact could be major”. Habeck, the outgoing German economy minister, also gave a blunt verdict on Trump’s tariffs, saying the US president’s widely derided models were “ridiculous” and describing recent comments by Elon Musk as “a sign of weakness”.

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