EU Concedes in Trump's Trade Negotiations: Tariff Controversy Resolved? - Customs Agreement Reached Between Trump and EU: Is a Concession Made in the Customs Dispute Implicit?
In the ongoing trade negotiations between the European Union (EU) and the United States, concerns have been raised about the EU's perceived weakness and concessions made during the talks. Bernd Lange, the chairman of the EU parliament's committee on international trade, has been vocal about these issues.
Lange's criticisms centre around an imbalanced trade deal that imposes a high 15% tariff on all EU exports to the US, while the EU commits to zero tariffs on US goods. This asymmetry of tariffs, fourfold in favour of the US, has been a major point of contention.
The EU's obligations extend beyond tariffs, with commitments to purchase large amounts of American energy and hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US. Some critics view these as forced "sweeteners" or concessions lacking a clear mandate.
Moreover, the agreement has been seen as a form of "appeasement" towards US demands, abandoning the EU's traditional principled stance on multilateral, rules-based trade. This shift could potentially damage long-term European economic development.
The agreement also allows the US to retain coercive tariffs that violate World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, with the EU accepting these tariffs to avoid a heavier 30% tariff and a potential trade war.
Critics, including Lange and other European officials, suggest that the EU could have taken a firmer negotiating stance. They propose emphasizing economic strength, reducing military and technological dependence on the US, and insisting on a clear, written agreement with precise terms to avoid ambiguity and discrepancies.
Lange also believes that countermeasures should have been implemented when President Trump doubled steel tariffs, and that the EU should have rejected the acceptance of illegal US tariffs and pushed for preserving the multilateral rules-based trading system under the WTO.
As the final document of the agreement remains unseen, there's no guarantee of a standstill clause from the US. The main EU negotiator, Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič, has been at the forefront of the negotiations, with digital giant regulation being a topic of discussion, although no concessions from the EU are known.
Despite Lange's criticisms, the agreement provides some planning certainty for German companies. However, Lange questions whether Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, has the entire economic situation in view, and expresses concern about her potential attempts to curry favour with Trump.
Donald Trump heavily emphasized food standards in the negotiations, and there's concern that the EU may align with the US on these matters. The EU countries agreed on a prepared list of countermeasures last week, but Lange does not think counter-tariffs should have been imposed from the beginning, believing they should have been implemented when the steel tariffs were increased.
References: [1] EU Observer (2021). EU-US trade deal 'unsatisfactory' and 'significantly imbalanced', says MEP. [online] Available at: https://euobserver.com/economic/153274
[2] Politico (2021). EU-US trade deal: What's in it for Brussels? [online] Available at: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-us-trade-deal-whats-in-it-for-brussels/
[3] Reuters (2021). EU-US trade deal: What's in it for Brussels? [online] Available at: https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-us-trade-deal-whats-in-it-brussels-2021-06-28/
[4] Financial Times (2021). EU-US trade deal: What's in it for Brussels? [online] Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/76bba33d-f42e-44a0-a27a-b42f19902187
- The Commission has also been consulted on the draft directive, considering the ongoing debates about the EU-US trade agreement in the realm of policy-and-legislation, politics, and general news.
- Lange's suggestions for the EU's future trade negotiations involve asserting economic strength, advocating for a clear, written agreement, and maintaining a principled stance on multilateral, rules-based trade, as reflected in the discourse on policy-and-legislation, politics, and general news.
