Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: The EU Has Some ‘Internal Matters To Decide’ Before The U.S. Can Negotiate

During Tuesday's White House press briefing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent answered questions about U.S. negotiations with the EU about tariffs.

Transcript

00:00Do you have any updates on the negotiation with the European Union?

00:03And is it hard to negotiate with the European Union?

00:06MR. Pardon?

00:07Do you have any updates on the negotiation with the European Union?

00:11MR. I'm more involved in the Asian negotiations.

00:15My observation would be – goes all the way back to Henry Kissinger's statement,

00:19when I call Europe, who do I call?

00:21So we're negotiating with a lot of different interests.

00:26Some of the European countries have put on an unfair digital service tax on our big internet

00:31provider.

00:32France and Italy, other countries, Germany and Poland, don't have that.

00:37So we want to see that unfair tax of one of America's great industries removed.

00:45So it's going to be a give and take.

00:47So they have some internal matters to decide before they can engage in an external negotiation.