EU trade commissioner to meet U.S. Commerce Secretary Lutnick on Tuesday

by Reuters Mar 24, 2025

The European Commissioner for trade, Maros Sefcovic, is heading to Washington to meet U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, a Commission spokesperson said on Monday.

Sefcovic will also meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The spokesperson added that Bjoern Seibert, the cabinet head for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, would also be attending. Trump prefers to deal with individual EU country leaders and has not yet hosted von der Leyen.

The spokesperson declined to provide more details about the discussion.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick speaks to members of the media near the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 13, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

European officials have struggled to talk U.S. President Donald Trump down from a trade war as they did during Trump's first administration.

Sefcovic said last week that little progress has been made in talks with Washington after Trump imposed 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports earlier this month.

The EU will delay its first set of counter-measures to mid-April, including a 50% tariff on U.S. bourbon. In response, Trump threatened to slap a 200% tariff on all wines and other alcoholic products from the EU if the bloc went ahead with this.

Trump also plans to impose "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2.