EU closes provisional trade deal with US under pressure from Trump

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Layen, speaks during the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland
Reuters
Representatives of the European Parliament and the 27 countries of the European Union reached, after a night of negotiations in Strasbourg, a provisional agreement to implement the trade pact with the United States, announced this Wednesday (20) by the Cypriot presidency of the EU.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen celebrated the commitment and said she hoped it would help to quickly end a turbulent period in relations between the two sides.
"This means that we will soon fulfill our part of the commitment made" with the United States, she wrote on the social network X. Von der Leyen also called for the process to be "finalized" as quickly as possible. "Together, we can ensure stable, predictable, balanced and mutually beneficial transatlantic trade," he added.
Videos trending on g1
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz also reacted positively to the commitment made by the EU to implement the trade agreement reached last year with the United States.
"We managed to reach an agreement on the implementation of the EU-US tariff agreement. Europe fulfills its commitments," wrote Merz.
Pressure from US to ratify the agreement
US President Donald Trump had given the Europeans until July 4 to ratify the agreement negotiated in the summer of 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland.
By stating that US commitments were quickly put into practice, Trump threatened to raise tariffs on European cars and trucks from 15% to 25% if the EU did not fulfill its part of the agreement.
In the pact with Washington, the European Union committed to eliminating tariffs applied to most of the imports from the United States, in exchange for a 15% cap on tariffs imposed by Trump on European products.
However, last month the European Parliament had demanded a series of safeguards considered difficult for member states to accept, worried about avoiding a new negative reaction from the White House.
Several economists have already classified the agreement negotiated between Brussels and Washington as a "capitulation" by Europeans to the demands of the American government.
With information from AFP*
Man adapts Barbie stroller to reduce gasoline costs in the USA
After the call, the collection of World Cup figurines will be updated

Source: G1