The European Union may be nearing a trade agreement with the United States but is struggling to obtain immediate tariff relief and a commitment not to introduce new measures, the head of the European Parliament's trade committee said on Wednesday.

The European Union will not receive a letter from the Trump administration laying out higher tariffs and there is a possibility of exemptions from the U.S. baseline levy of 10%

Export examples of the German-built retro-electric minivan to the US were briefly held at a European port while VW dealt with a US recall issue

Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), a Swedish company, repeatedly cautioned this year that any US tariffs on European imports could affect its profit margins by around one percentage

The U.S. dollar strengthened on Thursday amid new tariff tensions from President Trump, particularly against Brazil. Markets remained cautious but optimistic regarding potential trade agreements with China and the EU.

European politicians and diplomats were on standby waiting for word of a breakthrough in the tariff negotiations with the United States, which one official said had entered the “final phase”.

President Donald Trump has sent out tariff letters to seven smaller U.S. trading partners in his first batch of import tax announcements of the day.

Trump said the United States would impose tariffs of 25% on goods from Tunisia, Malaysia and Kazakhstan, with levies of 30% on South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, climbing to 32% on Indonesia, 35% on Serbia and Bangladesh, 36% on Cambodia and Thailand; and 40% on Laos and Myanmar. A deal with India was close, Trump added.