BRUSSELS — The European Commission is struggling to sell its trade deal with the U.S. as it becomes clear that many unresolved issues have been kicked down the road.
In a last-ditch attempt to fend off Donald Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on most EU goods to 30 percent on Aug. 1, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen struck a preliminary deal with the U.S. president on Sunday that foresees a 15 percent tariff on most imports from the EU.
“I don’t know exactly what day and when the across-the-board tariff will kick in. I can’t tell you precisely now when the exemptions to the across-the-board tariff that we’re working on with our American partners will kick in,” Olof Gill, the EU executive’s trade spokesperson, told reporters at a news briefing Tuesday.
“All I can tell you is that we’ve avoided the worst case, we’ve landed on 15 percent, and we will make it work technically with the minimum of costs and the minimum damage for our exporters,” Gill added.
Initially, the White House and the European Commission aimed to publish a joint statement by Aug. 1. Whether that will happen, however, is now uncertain, with many details still to be ironed out.
Gill said he couldn’t say “precisely when that joint statement will be ready, but it should be soon.”
Moreover, the White House and the European Commission have published seperate fact sheets on the deal that contain competing information.
The White House states, for example, that “the European Union will pay the United States a tariff rate of 15 percent, including on autos and auto parts, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors.”
The EU executive asserts that 15 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors will only be imposed once “the U.S. decides on whether to impose additional tariffs on these products pursuant [separate, ongoing investigations in the U.S.].”
Further discrepancies remain on tariffs and a quota system on steel and aluminum, on joint work on sanitary certificates and digital market access.
Gill was quick to defend the EU’s regulatory autonomy.
“We don’t change our rules … We are not moving on our right to regulate autonomously in the digital space,” he said.
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