On July 13, a senior German politician said on Sunday that the EU and Washington may hold further negotiations to postpone raising import tariffs after US President Trump threatened to raise tariffs on the EU, thereby escalating the trade war.

"The negotiation poker game between the EU and the US is entering a decisive phase," said Jürgen Hardt, deputy leader of the conservative CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Bundestag. "I bet that at least a partial agreement will be reached before August 1, and further postponements will occur. After all, high tariffs must be paid by US citizens and companies, which will lead to higher prices and inflation in the US."

Hardt said that Europe must dissuade Trump from "wrongly believing" that the US trade deficit is caused by the EU's protectionist measures. He said that due to the dominance of the IT industry, the US has a surplus in the service sector, which largely offsets the trade deficit. (Golden Ten)