Trump set a new tariff deadline. Hours later, a court told him he doesn't have the legal authority for the last one.
In a Truth Social post Thursday night, the president said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has until July 4 to push the U.S.-EU trade deal across the finish line. If she misses, he wrote, tariffs will "immediately jump to much higher levels."
The agreement Trump is referring to was struck last July at his golf course in Turnberry, Scotland, where the two sides set a 15% tariff on EU goods entering the U.S. with EU tariffs on American goods to drop to zero.
Earlier this week, Trump said he would raise tariffs on EU autos to 25%, accusing Brussels of dragging its feet on the deal. The Thursday night post sounded like a slight walk-back, but the threat is still on the table.
It also wasn't clear from his post whether the higher tariffs would apply to all EU goods or only autos.
Trump described his Thursday call with von der Leyen as "great" and tied the deadline to "our Country's 250th Birthday."
Von der Leyen pushed back on X, saying the EU remains "fully committed" to the agreement and that good progress is being made on tariff cuts by early July.
Bernd Lange, the European Parliament's chief trade negotiator, agreed the bloc is moving forward but said "there is still some way to go." The next round of trade talks is scheduled for May 10.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Bloomberg earlier in the week he expects the EU to keep "its side of the trade deal" agreed to last year.
The Iran war was also part of the call between Trump and von der Leyen, with both leaders agreeing Tehran can never possess a nuclear weapon.
Hours after Trump's deadline post, a U.S. trade court ruled that his most recent 10% global tariff lacked legal grounding under U.S. law.
That decision came after the Supreme Court earlier this year struck down even broader tariffs the administration tried to impose.
Trump now has a new public deadline aimed at Europe and a new legal limit on how he can use tariffs at all. Both will shape how this plays out over the next eight weeks.
The EU has signaled progress, while Trump has signaled patience is running out and the courts have signaled the legal ground is shifting.
The May 10 round of talks will be the first test of whether Brussels can hit the new deadline.
July 4 is now the day to circle.
