The European Union on Monday vehemently defended its trade deal with President Donald Trump, with EU capitals and businesses sharply divided on an outcome some branded a \u201ccapitulation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m 100 percent sure that this deal is better than a trade war with the United States,\u201d top EU trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic told journalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clinched the framework accord with Trump Sunday after dashing to Scotland as the August 1 deadline loomed for steep levies that threatened to cripple Europe\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
EU exports are now set to face across-the-board tariffs of 15 percent \u2014 higher than customs duties before Trump returned to the White House, but much lower than his threatened 30 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 27-nation bloc also promised its companies would purchase energy worth $750 billion from the United States and make $600 billion in additional investments \u2014 although it was not clear how binding those pledges would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is clearly the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances,\u201d Sefcovic said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Full details of the agreement \u2014 and crucially which sectors could escape the 15-percent levy \u2014 will be known in coming days, although the EU says it has avoided steeper tariffs on key exports including cars and medicines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the reaction from European capitals \u2014 which gave von der Leyen the mandate to negotiate \u2014 ranged from muted to outright hostile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said it was a \u201cdark day\u201d for Europe and said the accord was tantamount to \u201csubmission\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking for Europe\u2019s biggest economy, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave a warmer welcome to a deal he said had avoided \u201cneedless escalation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Industry groups in both countries made plain their disappointment however, with Germany\u2019s main auto sector body saying the 15-percent levy \u201cburdens\u201d carmakers while its VCI chemical trade association said the rates were \u201ctoo high\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hungary\u2019s Prime Minister Viktor Orban attacked the deal in blunt terms, saying \u201cTrump ate Ursula von der Leyen for breakfast\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 \u2018Not only about trade\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt looks a bit like a capitulation,\u201d said Alberto Rizzi of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe EU accepted a fairly unbalanced deal,\u201d he added, saying it delivered a \u201cpolitical victory for Trump\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Von der Leyen had faced intense pressure from EU states to strike a deal quickly with the bloc\u2019s biggest partner and protect a $1.9-trillion trading relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defending Brussels\u2019 approach, Sefcovic warned that a no-deal scenario \u2014 meaning a 30-percent tariff and the prospect of further escalation \u2014 would have risked up to five million jobs in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout the months-long talks, Brussels prioritised stability and maintaining good relations with Washington, over escalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That line of thinking has support: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally, said the deal had avoided \u201cpotentially devastating\u201d consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Markets in Asia and Europe welcomed the certainty and rose following the announcement \u2014 reflecting the 4.4 billion euros ($5.1 billion) worth of daily transatlantic goods and services trade that were at stake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hanging over the negotiations was the risk to other areas of cooperation \u2014 like Ukraine \u2014 if the EU descended into a trade war with its closest security partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not only about the trade \u2014 it\u2019s about security, it\u2019s about Ukraine,\u201d Sefcovic told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jacob Funk Kirkegaard of the Peterson Institute for International Economics acknowledged it was \u201cclearly an imbalanced deal\u201d if judged purely on trade terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut if you\u2019re trying to avoid worse national security outcomes, well then maybe the deal is not so bad,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Cautious approach \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EU had sought to ramp up the pressure in the final stretch of talks, fearing a bad deal and higher levies, with countries approving a $109-billion package of counter-tariffs at the last minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And states led by France were pushing for a more robust response including the option to deploy the trade \u201cbazooka\u201d known as the anti-coercion instrument.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the threat of retaliation was consistently framed by Brussels as a last resort should talks fail, and experts suggested the hardening stance may have come too late to make a real difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf the EU had played hardball at the very beginning, it probably could have got a better deal,\u201d ECFR\u2019s Rizzi told AFP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Union on Monday vehemently defended its trade deal with President Donald Trump, with EU capitals and businesses sharply divided on an outcome some branded a \u201ccapitulation\u201d. \u201cI\u2019m 100 percent sure that this deal is better than a trade war with the United States,\u201d top EU trade negotiator Maros Sefcovic told journalists. European Commission […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[3726,3727,1219],"class_list":["post-8665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-eu","tag-trade-deal","tag-trump"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8665"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8667,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8665\/revisions\/8667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}