Von der Leyen will meet with Trump "when there is a package to discuss."

The agreement between the United Kingdom and the United States has once again put the spotlight on the European Union, which is negotiating to find a common solution to the trade war unleashed by Donald Trump . That solution, however, is still a long way off.

According to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, the US and the EU are currently working on drafting a set of terms for a potential trade agreement. After an initial unsatisfactory meeting between Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and his US counterpart Howard Lutnick , the talks have been left to the technical experts who will present a proposal that will then be raised again to the political level.

"I've had conversations with Donald Trump both by phone and at Pope Francis I's funeral, but it's important to me that when he goes to the White House we have a concrete package to discuss with solutions we can both accept," said the head of the EU executive, which has sole responsibility for the bloc's trade strategy.

The Commission President appears to want to avoid meetings that could derail the potential negotiations. The tension has been palpable during various visits to the White House, including those by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney . At this point, Brussels believes it could do more harm than good to the search for a consensual solution.

Trump , for his part, has shown some rapprochement toward Von der Leyen, calling her a "fantastic" leader. To date, the Republican has only met with Giorgia Meloni, the president of Italy , who interceded during their meeting on behalf of the European institutions Trump has scorned.

The US president himself has stated on several occasions that he wants to reach an agreement with the European Union, but that he is in no rush to do so.

As negotiations continue and the 90-day tariff truce draws to a close, the Commission is working to prepare various retaliatory packages in case an agreement is not reached. On Wednesday, the EU executive opened a new wave of tariffs on European exports valued at €95 billion for consultations with European industry .

This figure is in addition to the €21 billion in his initial list, which he used to respond to the US tariffs on steel and aluminum, although that response is currently on hold to "allow for negotiation." In total, the counterattack would affect €116 billion in US exports, a far cry from the figure of around €380 billion in European products affected by Trump's tariffs , roughly 70% of all EU sales of goods.

Von der Leyen ruled out any possibility that preparing new measures to respond to US trade tariffs could affect the negotiations in any way. In fact, she emphasized that Washington is fully aware that the European priority is a diplomatic solution, but that they are preparing a Plan B in case the truce ends in July without a solution.

"We have always been transparent with the United States. We have told them that we prefer a negotiated solution from the outset, but that we would also develop retaliatory measures if an agreement was not reached," Von der Leyen assured, adding that "that is what we are doing with the consultation on [tariffs on US exports worth €95 billion] and we have other instruments on the table."

Visit of the German Chancellor

Von der Leyen 's intervention came in the context of Europe Day, which commemorates the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration and the first visit of Friedrich Merz, Germany's new chancellor.

On trade, the German politician reinforced the authority of European institutions to lead the strategy and noted that he had made it clear in a conversation with Trump that the EU, not individual countries, should lead the negotiations.

"I congratulated President Trump on the agreement he reached with the United Kingdom; it's a very good path forward. I also told him that you can't do that with individual EU countries because we negotiate together. My impression is that he accepted it," Merz said.

Aside from the trade issue, Merz and Von der Leyen also jointly highlighted the main challenges facing the European economy and politics, such as migration, regulatory simplification, regaining competitiveness against the US and China, and energy prices. In this last segment, the Commission President also emphasized the need for a robust electricity system.

"We have structurally very high energy prices. We have to lower them, and to do so, we have to invest massively in interconnectors, networks, and storage," Von der Leyen stated, at a time when the causes of the blackout on the Iberian Peninsula are still being investigated.