ISTANBUL

The EU and US are heading towards a trade deal that would impose a 15% tariff on European goods, The Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Three sources told the newspaper that Brussels and Washington are close to a 15% tariff deal, similar to the one finalized between US and Japan.

The sources said the bloc could accept reciprocal levies to avoid US President Donald Trump's planned hike to 30% starting on Aug. 1.

Both sides could lift tariffs on certain goods, such as aircraft, spirits, and medical devices, they added.

According to the sources, the 15% minimum would include current tariffs, leading the EU to view the deal as a way to formalize the existing arrangements so that car tariffs, now at 27.5%, could then be reduced to 15%.

Two of the sources also stressed that the US-Japan deal, reached Wednesday, pushed Brussels to accept higher tariffs to avoid a trade war but the EU could still hit back if Trump goes ahead with plans to raise them to 30% in August.

They added that the bloc is still preparing a possible €93 billion ($109 billion) package of retaliatory tariffs up to 30% if a deal is not reached by Aug. 1.

European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill also reaffirmed during a news briefing that a list of countermeasures was approved by the member states and would be adopted by the commission on Thursday.

"These countermeasures will automatically click into force on the seventh of August, should a negotiated outcome not happen before then," he explained, assuring that they are still focused on negotiations.

"We continue to prepare for all possible scenarios in the event that we don't get an agreement with the US. We have now merged our two proposed list into one nice, clear, coherent list," Gill added.

Asked whether there is good progress in negotiations, he said such an outcome is "within reach."

"Intensive political and technical level contact is ongoing between the EU and US. We want to get an agreement over the line as quickly as possible," Gill said.

French Economy Minister Eric Lombard, along with Adolfo Urso, Italy’s minister of enterprises and made in Italy, said they are in position to give the ongoing negotiations a chance.

"If these negotiations do not succeed ... we will reach an agreement among member states to respond in a way that matches the situation," Lombard told a joint news briefing in Paris.

Trump on Wednesday announced the completion of a trade agreement with Japan, saying the country would pay a 15% tariff on exports to the US, hailing it as "perhaps the biggest deal ever made."