PARIS: France’s finance minister has called for extending EU-US trade talks beyond the July 9 deadline in order to secure a better agreement.
US President Donald Trump has set the deadline for the trade talks, warning that failure to reach agreement could trigger higher US tariffs on goods from cars to pharmaceuticals.
Progress in the negotiations between the huge trading partners remains unclear. European officials are increasingly resigned to a 10 percent “reciprocal” tariff imposed by Washington in April being the baseline in any deal, sources familiar with the talks have told Reuters.
“I think that we are going to strike a deal with the Americans,” French Finance Minister Eric Lombard told newspaper La Tribune Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday.
“Regarding the deadline, my wish is for another postponement. I would rather have a good deal than a bad deal on July 9,” he said.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this month that deadlines on some countries negotiating in good faith could be extended.
French President Emmanuel Macron said following an EU summit on Thursday that France wants a quick and pragmatic trade deal with the United States but would not accept unbalanced terms.
EU leaders discussed a new US proposal at the summit but the European Commission did not reveal the content of the offer.
Lombard said that energy could form part of a trade deal, with the EU potentially increasing its imports of US gas to replace flows from Russia.
French minister calls for extension of EU-US trade talks
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French minister calls for extension of EU-US trade talks
- Progress in the negotiations between the huge trading partners remains unclear
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said earlier this month that deadlines on some countries negotiating in good faith could be extended
Poland to seek help from two other countries in Epstein investigation
- The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in its statement that it had initiated an investigation into human trafficking
- Prosecutors suspect the trafficking consisted of recruiting women and girls for work abroad
WARSAW: Poland will ask two other European countries for information and evidence needed for its investigation into human trafficking related to late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
In a statement, they said documents from the Epstein files indicated a reasonable suspicion that human trafficking had taken place in Poland. They did not name the European countries they would contact but a source familiar with the matter told Reuters the prosecutors would ask France and Sweden for help.
The US Justice Department’s release of millions of internal documents related to Epstein has revealed the late financier and sex offender’s ties to many prominent people in politics, finance, academia and business — both before and after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution charges.
In February, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Poland would launch an investigation into possible links between Epstein and Russian intelligence, as well as any offenses affecting Polish citizens.
The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office confirmed in its statement that it had initiated an investigation into human trafficking committed in the period from 2009 to August 2019 on the territory of Poland and other countries.
Prosecutors suspect the trafficking consisted of recruiting women and girls for work abroad under false pretenses and of then transporting them outside Poland and handing them over to other people for sexual exploitation, the statement said.
Files reviewed by Reuters show that a man called Daniel Siad had informed Epstein about his travels through Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, among other countries, scouting for models.
He also mentioned his cooperation with Jean-Luc Brunel, a key suspect and longtime Epstein associate, who died in a French prison in 2022.
According to Polish media reports, Siad was born in Algeria and moved to Sweden at the age of 23.
Reuters reached out to him on two phone numbers and an email address found in the files, but has not yet received answers to questions sent.
In February, Swedish newspaper Expressen quoted Siad as saying he had never committed a crime and was open to talking to investigators in any interested country.
