Brussels’ top trade official is leaving her job after disagreeing with EU chiefs over the bloc’s trade deal with Donald Trump.
Sabine Weyand, who played a key role in the Brexit negotiations, is leaving her role as the head of the European Commission trade department after seven years.
The Cambridge-educated German official was sidelined after contradicting Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, over the Turnberry agreement with the United States.
Ms Weyand, who will take a teaching role at the University Institute in Florence, said the deal agreed last year in Scotland broke World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
Mrs Von der Leyen has repeatedly defended a pact that put 15 per cent tariffs on most EU exports while reducing them to zero on many US imports.
She has claimed the deal could be a stepping stone to a fully fledged free-trade agreement.
But Ms Weyand told the European Parliament in September that the Turnberry agreement did not “fulfil [WTO] conditions”.
“If we were to go to the US and say, ‘Could you agree with us that the objective is to transform this into a fully WTO-compatible FTA?’, I think the answer would be a resounding no,” Ms Weyand said.
The official’s lack of enthusiasm for the trade deal has been an open secret in Brussels, where she rose to prominence after negotiating a massive bill for Britain to leave the EU.
At one public event, she said that the EU did not retaliate against Mr Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs out of fear he would stop the support of Ukraine against Russia.
“The European side was under enormous pressure to find a quick solution to stabilise transatlantic relations, especially regarding security guarantees,” she said.
Ursula von der Leyen and Donald Trump, and others, give the thumbs-up gesture at Turnberry, while Sabine Weyand remains unmoved
A photograph taken at the signing of the Turnberry agreement, which was a deal criticised by many EU capitals, was widely discussed in Brussels.
It showed US and EU top brass, including Mrs Von der Leyen and Maroš Šefčovič, the trade commissioner, smiling and giving Trump-style thumbs-up, with the notable exception of Ms Weyand.
Karl von Falkenberg, a former deputy director-general of DG Trade, told the FT that the relationship between Ms Weyand and Mr Šefčovič was “completely broken”.
One source told The Telegraph that suggestions Ms Weyand had left the commission over Turnberry were exaggerated, adding that the official, who is in her early 60s, was due to retire.
A senior EU official told the FT there was no rift with Mrs Von der Leyen and that she had delivered free-trade agreements with the Mercosur bloc of South American countries, India and Australia.
“She has had an impressive seven years heading up DG Trade,” the official said. “It’s a logical moment to move on.”