U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he welcomed the European Union, after he agreed to delay a 50% tariff on goods from the bloc until July 9.

“I have just been informed that the E.U. has called to quickly establish meeting dates,” Trump wrote in a post on the Truth Social platform.

“This is a positive event, and I hope that they will, FINALLY, like my same demand to China, open up the European Nations for Trade with the United States of America.”

Trump also said Tuesday that the EU had been “slow walking” in negotiations with the White House over a trade deal.

The sudden prospect of even greater tariffs on one of the U.S.’ biggest trade partners rattled markets when it was threatened by Trump last Friday. In a post last week, Trump said discussions with the EU were “going nowhere.”

However, sentiment turned positive on Tuesday amid hopes of a breakthrough. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X over the weekend that the EU was “ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively,” while European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said Monday that he had “good calls” with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Europe’s regional Stoxx 600 index slightly extended gains after Trump’s comments on Tuesday, last trading up 0.55% on the previous session, while U.S. markets opened broadly higher.

The 27-member alliance was hit with a 20% tariff on the EU on April 2 as part of Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff strategy, which was then cut for almost all trading partners to 10% for 90 days. Concurrent U.S. duties on autos, steel and aluminum are also hitting the bloc’s exporters.

EU officials have repeatedly stressed that they want to reach a deal with the White House, but that this will not come at any cost. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, earlier this month launched a consultation on tariff countermeasures targeting U.S. imports worth 95 billion euros ($107.4 billion) if a deal is not reached.

CNBC has contacted the European Commission for comment.

On May 8, the U.S. unveiled the outline of a trade deal with the U.K., the first such agreement under the latest Trump administration, although businesses say they are awaiting further details. The deal maintains a 10% baseline tariff on U.K. imports to the U.S., suggesting other countries will face a similar rate at a minimum.

Trump has generally struck a favorable tone toward the U.K. due to its more balanced trade relationship in goods with the U.S. He has accused the EU, however — with which it has a deficit in goods — of treating the U.S. unfairly. EU-U.S. trade is roughly balanced when accounting for both goods and services, according to EU figures.

Consumer optimism got a much-needed boost in May on hopes for trade pace between the U.S. and China, according to a survey Tuesday.

The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index leaped to 98.0, a 12.3-point increase from April and much better than the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 86.0.

Much of the positive sentiment, according to board officials, came from developments in the U.S.-China trade impasse, most notably President Donald Trump’s halting of the most severe tariffs on May 12.

“The rebound was already visible before the May 12 US-China trade deal but gained momentum afterwards,” said Stephanie Guichard, the Conference Board’s senior economist for global indicators.

May’s rebound followed five straight months of declines. Consumers and investors had grown sour on economic prospects amid the intensifying trade war that Trump has launched against U.S. global trading partners, with China a particular target.

However, the two sides reached a truce in early May, marking the second major walk-back of Trump’s so-called reciprocal tariffs since he levied them in his April 2 “liberation day” announcement.

Other board sentiment indicators also increased.

The present situation index increased to 135.9, up 4.8 points, and the expectations index posted a major surge to 72.8, a 17.4 point gain. Investors also showed more optimism, with 44% now expecting stocks to be higher over the next 12 months, up 6.4 percentage points from April.

Views on the labor market also improved, with 19.2% of respondents expecting more jobs to be available in the next six months, compared to 13.9% in April. At the same time, 26.6% expect fewer jobs, down from 32.4%.

Survey officials said sentiment improved across age, income and political affiliation, though noting that the “strongest improvements” came from Republicans.