It wasn’t immediately clear if the EU would be able to secure tariff reductions for particular industries, such as automotive or steel, a key demand from member states including Germany. The EU currently faces 25% tariffs in the automotive sector and 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The White House will begin on Friday unilaterally notifying trade partners of new tariff rates on their exports to the US, Donald Trump has said ahead of his looming July 9 deadline to complete new deals.

President Donald Trump said Washington will start sending letters to countries on Friday specifying what tariff rates they will face on imports to the United States, a clear shift from earlier pledges to strike scores of individual deals.