Evening Briefing Europe

EU Leaders Are United In Telling Trump No Side Deals on Trade

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Friedrich Merz, Germany's chancellor, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, during a meeting in Brussels.

Photographer: Simon Wohlfahrt/Bloomberg

European leaders meeting in Brussels today had a message for Donald Trump: There will be no side deals or shortcutsBloomberg Terminal on trade negotiations.

The EU’s strategy is to speak with one voice as the US president uses the threat of steep tariff hikes to try to persuade countries, like SwitzerlandBloomberg Terminal, to sign bilateral trade deals that would be advantageous to America. Trump hailed such a pact with the UK this week as a breakthrough that would open the door to others.