BRUSSELS — A high-level meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is tentatively scheduled for October, two EU officials said.
The last official EU-U.S. summit was in June 2021, although Biden did attend a meeting of EU leaders in March 2022.
Brussels and Washington have been closely cooperating since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February last year, with the transatlantic relationship seemingly back on track after the tumultuous years under former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Both sides are also hammering out their differences over the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which foresees billions in green technology subsidies for North American businesses.
The October date coincides with a deadline to find a transatlantic agreement on a long-running dispute over steel and aluminum dating back to Trump’s imposition of tariffs on European imports in 2018. If the two sides fail to reach a deal by then, they could reimpose billions of dollars in trade tariffs on each other’s goods.
The date would also have repercussions for another high-level summit, as the European Commission insists that the next China-EU summit, which had previously been penciled in for June, cannot take place before the next U.S.-EU summit.
A spokesperson for the European Council declined to comment on summit dates. A White House National Security Council spokesperson said they don’t have anything “to confirm or announce at this time.”
Nahal Toosi contributed reporting from Washington D.C.
