Trump’s EU-US Trade Deal Could Cost Europe for Years to Come
The EU-US tariff agreement ends short-term uncertainty in Europe, but it has also humiliated the bloc and undermines its future
Illustration: Valentin Tkach for Bloomberg
The best that can be said for the EU-US trade deal agreed on Sunday — at least from a European perspective — is that it could have been a lot worse.
After all, the 15% tariff that America will now charge on almost all European imports is half the 30% tariff that Donald Trump had threatened to impose from Aug. 1. It is also no higher than the baseline tariffs that the US president is imposing on many other trading partners, so the European Union will suffer little competitive disadvantage. Sure, the new taxes are a blow, but at least this draws a line under the uncertainty that has hung over transatlantic trade so far this year. “We are creating more predictability for our businesses,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “This is necessary for our companies to plan and invest.”