Trump says he'll delay a threatened 50% tariff on the European Union until July

Cheering Romanians cast shadows on a giant European Union flag during New Year celebrations for Romania’s accession in the EU in Bucharest Romania Monday January 1, 2007. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, File)

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. will delay implementation of a 50% tariff on goods from the European Union from June 1 until July 9 to buy time for negotiations with the block.

That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who had told Trump that she “wants to get down to serious negotiations,” according to the U.S. president’s retelling.

“I told anybody that would listen, they have to do that,” Trump told reporters on Sunday in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington. Von der Leyen, Trump said, vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out.”