European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on the phone on Sunday, as a deadline to settle a dispute over customs duties approaches.

“They have had a good exchange,” a commission spokesman said on Monday, without providing any further details.

In April, Mr Trump paused special levies on imports from most trading partners, including the European Union, for 90 days.

The 90-day period ends on July 9.

The delay prompted the EU to suspend its planned counter tariffs to allow for further talks.

A different spokesman said the commission was still determined to find an agreement and avoid harmful tariffs.

The negotiations were going well, and considerable progress had been made, with the talks being the “beginning of the end game”.

It was no longer clear when the new U.S. tariffs could come into force. The EU had previously assumed that tariffs would be introduced this Wednesday should there be no agreement.

U.S. representatives recently also mentioned August 1.

In this case, negotiations could continue beyond Wednesday.

The talks are considered to be difficult because, according to the EU, Mr Trump’s customs policy is not only intended to eliminate alleged trade imbalances but also to generate revenue for tax relief.

The EU considers the measures to be incompatible with the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and plans to impose counter-tariffs if the U.S. introduces additional tariffs following the possible failure of the talks. 

(dpa/NAN)