EDINBURGH: Donald Trump is meeting Sunday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, taking a break from golfing in Scotland to discuss trade as both sides seek an agreement on tariff rates now that the White House’s deadline to impose stiff tariff rates is looming.
Trump played golf Saturday at his course in Turnberry on the southwest coast of Scotland and is expected to hit the links again frequently during his five-day visit. On Tuesday, he’ll be in Aberdeen, in northeast Scotland, where his family has another golf course and is opening a third next month.
Trump and his son Eric are planning to help cut the ribbon on the new course, where public tee times starting Aug. 13 are already on offer.
The visit with von der Leyen is expected to be behind closed doors and few further details have been released.
Leaving the White House on Friday, Trump said “we have a 50-50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50-50 chance of making a deal with the EU.” He said the deal would have to “buy down” the currently scheduled tariff rate of 30 percent on the bloc of 27 member states.
Later, von der Leyen posted on X that, “Following a good call” with Trump, the pair had ”agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong.”
The US and EU seemed close to reaching a deal earlier this month, but Trump instead threatened a 30 percent tariff rate on the bloc of nations. Still, Trump’s original deadline for beginning such tariffs has already passed, and is now delayed until at least Friday.
Flying to Scotland to enjoy his golf courses hasn’t stopped the president from talking trade.
After going to Turnberry to play nine holes, have lunch, then play nine more, Trump posted that he’d block any trade deals between the US and Cambodia and Thailand since the two southeast Asian countries remain locked in violent clashes in long-disputed border areas.
Trump wrote that he spoke with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Phumtham Wechayachai, the acting prime minister of Thailand, to call for a ceasefire.
“I am trying to simplify a complex situation!” he wrote on Truth Social after disclosing his conversation with the Cambodian leader. After speaking with Wechayachai, Trump said both countries want peace and added: “Ceasefire, Peace, and Prosperity seems to be a natural.”
The actual likelihood of a deal with the EU, meanwhile, remains to be seen.
Trump recently said he thought the odds of reaching a framework with Japan was 25 percent — but the US and Japan subsequently announced an agreement this past week.
The president also bragged earlier in his term that he would leverage constant threats of steep US tariffs around the globe to negotiate better rates and shrink trade deficits with some of Washington’s key allies. But, so far, that effort has fallen well short of expectations, meaning the onus may be on Trump to be able to announce an agreement with a bloc as key to global commerce as the EU.
Trump is also set to meet Monday in Scotland with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after the two announced a trade framework in May and a larger agreement last month during the G7 in Canada. Trump says that deal is concluded and that the pair will discuss other matters — though the White House has suggested it still needs some polishing.
Without an EU deal, the bloc said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.
If Trump follows through on his threat of tariffs against Europe, it could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US