EU's quiet negotiator Sefcovic takes on biggest task yet - Trump

'Frank conversation' between Commissioner Sefcovic and his counterpart Grier: two hours of videoconferencing but no step forward

The first contact between the top EU Trade officials, Maros Sefcovic, and that of the United States, Howard Lutnick, after announcing President Donald Trump’s massive tariffs has ended this Friday with a message from Brussels that admits that things have to change: “The trade relationship between the EU and the United States needs a new approach,” Sefcovic said in a message on social network X. The rest of the statement is more belligerent.

Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic is scheduled to speak with his U.S. counterparts this Friday to insist on dialogue to seek a negotiated solution to the indiscriminate 20% tariffs President Donald Trump has announced for all…

Two days after Donald Trump's grandiloquent announcement against all his trading partners as part of his tariff war, contact between Europe and the United States resumed this Friday. After a two-hour video call between Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart, Howard Lutnick, regarding the 20% tariffs applied to the entire European Union, the first reactions were given regarding the roadmap to be adopted in terms of dialogue.

EU's quiet negotiator Sefcovic takes on biggest task yet - Trump

Dubbed “Mr Fix-It” in Brussels for handling the thorny task of Brexit, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic is no stranger to a challenge — but negotiating with the United States to avert a trade war might just be his biggest yet. A career diplomat who studied European law, the 58-year-old Slovakian is trusted by the EU’s 27 member states to take on the task of getting US President Donald Trump to back down from his sweeping tariffs on EU goods. Sefcov…

The Commissioner for Trade, Maros Sefcovic, is scheduled to speak this Friday with his American counterparts to insist on dialogue to seek a negotiated solution to the indiscriminate tariffs of 20% that President Donald Trump has announced for all imports from the European Union and which are in addition to the taxes already enacted for steel and aluminum and car productions.