Trump predicts 50% chance of trade deal with EU

President Trump says the U.S. has a “50-50 chance” of making a trade agreement with the European Union as negotiators race against an Aug. 1 tariff deadline.

Mr. Trump appraised the odds as he departed for a trip to the U.K., where he will refine a post-Brexit trade deal he made with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

“Maybe less than that — but a 50-50 chance of making a deal with the EU,” Mr. Trump said Friday at the White House. “It will be a deal where they’ll have to buy down their tariffs.”

That reference alludes to Mr. Trump’s push for concessions, such as foreign market access for American products or investments in U.S. products, in exchange for a lower tariff rate.

Mr. Trump plans to impose a 30% tariff on goods the 27-country bloc sends to U.S. markets unless European negotiators offer better terms.

“They want to make a deal very badly,” Mr. Trump said.

Besides the U.K., Mr. Trump struck deals with Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan ahead of his Aug. 1 deadline to reimpose high tariffs on a nation-by-nation basis.

Mr. Trump said most countries would be assigned a specific tariff on goods they send to the U.S. in lieu of complex negotiations. 

Countries like South Korea are scrambling for a deal alongside Canada and Mexico.

Mr. Trump said the U.S. isn’t having “much luck” with the Canadians, so they might be assigned a tariff amount.

He said places like the EU should look to Japan, which had little hope of a deal but made better offers, including a $550 billion investment in U.S. projects.

“They kept coming back, and they made a deal,” Mr. Trump said.

The president said Japan’s agreement to accept more American products into its market was the biggest part of the pact.

He would like to see similar access in Europe, which he has said for years has some of the toughest trade barriers.

“Maybe we get this, maybe we don’t,” he said.