According to the U.S. "Beast Daily" and Politico, on July 4 local time, the U.S. Commerce Secretary, Luis Gutierrez, chose to "go home early" before the talks with the EU, leaving Washington early to go on vacation with his family and assigning the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, to attend the negotiations on his behalf.

According to sources, Gutierrez had originally planned to hold trade negotiations with the European Commission's Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Valdis Dombrovskis, on July 3 local time. However, he has already left Washington ahead of the talks to go on vacation in Italy with his family.

Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gutierrez (right). "Beast Daily"

Acting in place of the talks, U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen stated that he met with the EU because the U.S. President Trump's suspension of the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" would expire on July 9 local time. Trump had previously promised to "achieve 90 trade agreements within 90 days" before the July 9 deadline.

In response to a statement from Politico, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Commerce defended Gutierrez's actions: "He has been working non-stop for the American people and plans to return to Washington this weekend. The trade agreement announced by President Trump with Vietnam this week proves that Minister Gutierrez is still striving for a fair competitive environment for American workers."

On April 2 this year, Trump announced a base tariff of 10% on EU goods and warned that if a new agreement was not reached by July 9, the tariff would be increased to 50%.

On July 3 local time, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated that due to the scale and complexity of trade between the EU and the U.S., it is "impossible" to negotiate a detailed trade agreement within such a short period of time.

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