European Union resigned to 15 percent US tariff
TURNBERRY (AFP)The United States and the European Union clinched a trade agreement on Sunday that will see EU exports taxed at 15 percent.US President Donald Trump emerged from a high-stakes meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his golf resort in Scotland, describing the deal as the "biggest-ever".The deal, which the leaders reached after an hour of talks, came as the clock ticked down on an August 1 deadline to avoid an across-the-board US levy of 30 percent on European goods."We've reached a deal. It's a good deal for everybody. This is probably the biggest deal ever reached in any capacity," said Trump.Trump said a baseline tariff of 15 percent would apply across the board, including for Europe's crucial automobile sector, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors.As part of the deal, Trump said the 27-nation EU bloc had agreed to purchase "$750 billion worth of energy" from the US, as well as make $600 billion in additional investments.Von der Leyen said the "significant" purchases of US liquefied natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels would come over three years, as part of the bloc's bid to diversify away from Russian sources.Negotiating on behalf of the EU's 27 countries, von der Leyen had been pushing hard to salvage a trading relationship worth an annual $1.9 trillion in goods and services."It's a good deal," the EU chief told reporters."It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic," she said.She added that bilateral tariff exemptions had been agreed on a number of "strategic products", notably aircraft, certain chemicals, some agricultural products and critical raw materials.Von der Leyen said the EU still hoped to secure further so-called "zero-for-zero" agreements, which she hoped to be "sorted out" in the coming days.Trump also said EU countries -- which recently pledged to ramp up their defence spending within NATO -- would be purchasing "hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment."The EU is currently subject to a 25-percent levy on cars, 50 percent on steel and aluminium, and an across-the-board tariff of 10 percent.The new deal will need to be approved by EU member states -- whose ambassadors, on a visit to Greenland, were updated by the commission Sunday morning. They were set to meet again after the deal struck in Scotland.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rapidly hailed the deal, saying it avoided "needless escalation in transatlantic trade relations".Ireland, one of the EU's top exporters to the US, said Sunday it welcomed the deal for bringing "a measure of much-needed certainty", but that it "regrets" the baseline tariff, in a statement by its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.France's minister for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, wrote on X on Monday that the agreement would provide "temporary stability... but it is unbalanced".
While 15 percent is much higher than pre-existing US tariffs on European goods, which average around 4.8 percent, it mirrors the status quo, with companies currently facing an additional flat rate of 10 percent.
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