PARIS — The European Union will suspend retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods scheduled to take effect Monday in hopes of reaching a trade deal with the Trump administration by the end of the month.

“This is now the time for negotiations,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters Sunday in Brussels, after President Donald Trump sent a letter announcing new tariffs of 30% on goods from the EU and Mexico starting Aug. 1.

The EU negotiates trade deals on behalf of its 27 member countries.

Europe’s biggest exports to the U.S. are pharmaceuticals, cars, aircraft, chemicals, medical instruments, and wine and spirits.

“We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution,” she said. If they can’t reach a deal, “we will continue to prepare countermeasures so we are fully prepared.”

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni warned Sunday that a trade war “would make us all weaker in the face of the global challenges we face together” and said Italy would actively work for a fair deal. “Europe has the economic and financial strength to make the case for a fair and common-sense agreement,” her office said.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was heading to Washington for talks Monday with the U.S. administration and Congress. The right-wing government of Meloni, the only EU leader to attend Trump’s inauguration, has sought to position itself as a bridge” between Brussels and Washington.

Trump says his tariffs would set the foundation for reviving an economy that he claims has been ripped off by other nations for decades. Trump’s letter to the EU says the U.S. trade deficit is a national security threat.