After satisfying Donald Trump's calls for Europe to ramp up defence spending in NATO, EU leaders were meeting in Brussels Thursday on the next big challenge ahead: how to seal a trade deal with the US leader.

Time is running out. The European Union has until July 9 to reach a deal or see swingeing tariffs kick in on a majority of goods, unleashing economic pain.

The European Commission, in charge of EU trade policy, has been in talks with Washington for weeks, and will update leaders on the state of play at Thursday's summit.

The leader of the bloc's biggest economy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, set the tone upon arrival.

"I support the commission in all its efforts to reach a trade agreement quickly," said Merz, signalling he wants negotiators to close a deal as soon as possible -- even if it means an unbalanced outcome with the Europeans agreeing to some level of US tariffs.

The EU has put a zero-percent tariff proposal on the table -- but it's widely seen as a non-starter in talks with Washington.

According to several diplomats, the goal at this point is rather to let Trump........

© International Business Times