Trader Howard Lutnick agreed with President Donald Trump’s “50-50” Opportunities to conclude a trade agreement with the European Commission prior to a deadline of 1 August, and says that the main question is whether the 27-country block will offer the president “the right deal”.
“If the president places the chances at 50-50, they are the opportunities,” said Lutnick. “Look, Europe must close a deal and want to close a deal, and they fly to Scotland to close a deal with President Trump.”
“The question is, do they offer President Trump a deal of sufficient good enough who is worthwhile for him to get rid of the 30 percent rates he has set?” The secretary of the trade continued.
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Lutnick said he agreed with Trump’s “50-50” opportunities to conclude a trade agreement with the EU before the deadline of 1 August. (Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty images, File/Getty images)
Trump said: “We have a chance of 50-50, perhaps less than that, but a 50-50 chance to close a deal with the EU.” The block of 27 Member States is currently confronted with a rate percentage of 30% if a deal is not reached by the deadline.
When Trump later met on Sunday Von der Leyen, the EU chef corresponded to the opportunities of Trump that a deal was reached before August 1.
President Donald Trump meets President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, in Turnberry, Scotland, Great -Britain, July 27, 2025. (Reuters / Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters -photos)
“It’s about balancing again,” Von der Leyen told reporters while she was sitting next to Trump. “You can call it honesty, you can balance it again. We have a surplus and the United States has a shortage and we have to balance it again.”
Trump told reporters that the lowest rate percentage with which the US could agree to the block was 15%.
While the two parties continue trade discussions, Lutnick said that “the right deal” would see the block open their markets and “really negotiate with [Trump] In the right way. “
“It is up to President Trump, who is the leader of this negotiating table. We set the table. The team sets the table. But Donald Trump does his negotiations himself,” he said, pointing to Trump’s “Masterclass” in trade negotiations with Japan.
Last week the US and Japan came to a historic trade agreement of $ 550 billion that Japan will see his country opening things like cars, trucks, rice and other agricultural products, as well as mutual rates of 15% to the US, under the deal.
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The deadline for the Trump administration to start with the imposition of rates remains set on 1 August and will not shift, according to Lutnick.
“So no extensions, no more respite periods,” he said. “August 1, the rates are set, they go into place. Customs begins to collect the money and we are going.”
Lutnick added that countries that have not reached a deal can still talk to Trump, even after the deadline has passed.
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“I mean, he is always willing to listen,” Lutnick said about the president, adding that “whether they can make him happy is another question.”
