The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has accepted a highly unequal trade agreement with the United States, imposing a 15% across-the-board tariff on most EU goods exported to the US—far higher than the tariffs US products face in the EU. The deal, struck during a meeting at Donald Trump's Scottish golf resort in Turnberry, falls short of the zero-for-zero tariff deal initially proposed by Brussels and does not guarantee an end to the transatlantic trade war.
Under the provisional settlement, the EU has agreed to purchase hundreds of billions of dollars of US fossil fuels and weapons for the duration of Trump's presidency, avoiding the 30% blanket tariffs he had threatened from 1 August. The agreement marks a significant climbdown from the 10% rate EU officials believed they had secured just two weeks ago, and is seen as a humiliation for von der Leyen, who had to wait for Trump to finish a round of golf before meeting him.
Despite von der Leyen's claim that the deal provides “certainty in uncertain times,” uncertainty remains over key sectors such as pharmaceuticals, which she insisted were covered by the 15% tariff but Trump said would not be part of the agreement. The deal also leaves unresolved issues including agricultural tariffs and whether alcoholic drinks are exempted.
Critics argue that the EU's capitulation does not prevent further trade friction or influence Trump's stance on Russia's war in Ukraine. The optics of the meeting were widely seen as humiliating, with von der Leyen sitting silently as Trump made false claims about US aid to Gaza and parroting his narrative of an unbalanced trade relationship without mentioning the large US surplus in services trade with Europe.
