ISTANBUL 

The EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic stated Thursday that trade means progress and peace in motion, adding that the European Union has always stood for free and fair trade.

"We need trade—trade is not just a political slogan; it is an economic imperative," Sefcovic said at the Brussels Economic Security Forum.

He also recalled the notion that Europe cannot be made without the economic trade of Robert Schuman.

"We negotiate, we do not isolate, and we do not leave the table," Sefcovic noted.

"This is reflected in the EU's network of Free Trade Agreements (FTA), the largest of any trading player worldwide. And we're fast-tracking bilateral talks underway and initiating numerous new ones," he added.

Jonathan Reynolds, UK's secretary of state for business and trade, said that the UK is taking an open and collaborative approach to economic security.

"It is said that good fences make good neighbors. However, the UK and the EU are not just neighbors—we are friends," Reynolds noted.

The remarks came after the renewed trade tensions and negotiations between the US and the EU.

US President Donald Trump had threatened to impose a direct 50% tariff on the EU starting on June 1 by saying trade talks were "going nowhere" after suspending the previously imposed 20% tariff.

After speaking with the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the US president subsequently moved the date to July 9.

Trade talks between the two parties are ongoing, as Sefcovic and the US trade representative met in Paris on Wednesday.