President Donald Trump on Friday said that he is “recommending a straight 50% tariff on the European Union” after complaining that trade negotiations have stalled, CNBC.com reported. The steep new import duties would start on June 1, Trump wrote on Truth Social. The EU “has been very difficult to deal with,” Trump wrote of the 27-nation bloc.

The European Union is set to delay new, global rules governing banks' trading again as it waits for more clarity about the U.S. administration's plans to deregulate its financial sector, sources told Reuters. The Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) is a key part the Basel III package devised in the wake of the global financial crisis but not yet implemented by Britain or the United States, two of the world's key financial centres.

The EU plans to levy a flat fee of €2 on billions of small packages entering the bloc, mainly from China, in a fresh blow to online retailers such as Temu and Shein, the Financial Times reported. Trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič told the European parliament he had proposed a handling fee on Tuesday to deal with the challenges of the 4.6bn items annually imported directly to people’s homes. The European Commission draft proposal, seen by the Financial Times, says the €2 fee will apply to direct sales but that items sent to warehouses will be taxed at €0.50.

Britain and the European Union signed a deal to ease trade and bolster security cooperation, taking the biggest step to improve their relationship since the U.K. quit the bloc five years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported. EU leaders gathered in London alongside British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday to unveil the deal, which doesn’t undo Brexit but shows both sides have buried the hatchet after years of painful wrangling.

The European Union’s exports to the U.S. hit a record high in March as businesses stockpiled goods ahead of an expected rise in tariffs that was announced by President Trump in early April, the Wall Street Journal reported. The EU exported 59.5% more goods to the U.S. compared with the same month of the previous year, totaling 71.4 billion euros, or around $79.86 billion, statistics agency Eurostat said Friday. The EU’s trade surplus with the U.S., a key sticking point with Trump, swelled to 40.7 billion euros from 16.7 billion euros in March 2024.

The European Union wants a trade deal with the U.S. that sees a larger reduction in tariffs than negotiations with the U.K. and China have so far yielded, officials from the bloc said Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported. President Trump imposed a series of tariffs that affect Europe’s makers of automobiles, steel and aluminum. On April 2, he announced a sharp rise in tariffs on all imports from Europe, but a week later reduced the increase to 10% for 90 days to allow for negotiations. Last week, the U.S. and the U.K.

The European Union is revising its proposals for a potential trade deal with the US as a first step toward opening serious negotiations, even as the Trump administration continues to provide little clarity and make demands that negotiators see as unrealistic, Bloomberg News reported. The new EU proposal would provide more details on ways to lower trade and non-tariff barriers, as well as boost European investments within the US and purchases of US goods, including liquefied natural gas and semiconductors for use in artificial intelligence.

Europe's largest retailers and online retail companies have urged the European Commission to rein in allegedly high fees charged by Visa and Mastercard saying that they hurt the bloc's competitiveness and hamper rivals, Reuters reported. Visa and Mastercard dominate the market for payment cards and have in recent years faced complaints from retailers about their fees, and what retailers say is a lack of transparency on these fees. The two U.S. companies process about two-thirds of card payments in the euro zone.