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Politico (25 June 2025)

Hans von der Burchard, Camille Gijs, Jordyn Dahl, Jürgen Klöckner, Daniel Desrochers and Ari Hawkins

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is demanding that Brussels strike a trade deal with the United States within days, as concerns grow that the EU will end up with an unbalanced agreement that only benefits Donald Trump. 

Pushing the issue onto the agenda of Thursday’s EU leaders’ summit, Merz this week slammed the European Commission’s negotiating strategy as “far too complicated.” He called for greater urgency and focus in dealing with the U.S. president — a demand he said he would put to other EU leaders together with France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.

Leaders are impatiently awaiting an update from the EU executive over dinner on its talks with the Trump administration — just as concerns mount across the bloc that all goods might be hit with a “reciprocal” 50 percent tariff as soon as July 9 should Brussels and Washington fail to strike a deal. 

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