{"id":308678,"date":"2025-08-01T07:37:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308678\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T07:37:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T07:37:12","slug":"eu-us-deal-slammed-as-lopsided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/308678\/","title":{"rendered":"EU-US deal slammed as lopsided"},"content":{"rendered":"

Analysts say European bloc getting short end of bargain despite agreement on lower tariffs<\/strong><\/p>\n

A worker checks a lipstick of French brand Le Rouge Francais at a facility in Pacy-sur-Eure, France, on July 18, 2025. (PHOTO \/ REUTERS)<\/p>\n

Atrade deal reached on July 27 between the United States and the European Union has sparked controversy among European officials, businesspeople, and analysts \u2014 despite both sides hailing it as a step toward restoring \u201ctrade balance\u201d and promoting fairer commerce.<\/p>\n

At the heart of the debate is the deal\u2019s asymmetry: The US will lower tariffs on EU goods to 15 percent, while the EU has agreed not to impose additional tariffs on US products.<\/p>\n

French Minister for European Affairs Benjamin Haddad described the agreement as \u201cunbalanced\u201d, though he acknowledged it would \u201cbring temporary stability to economic actors threatened by the escalation of American tariffs\u201d.<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said, \u201cWe have thus managed to preserve our fundamental interests, even if I would have wished for more relief in trans-Atlantic trade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the agreement \u201censures stability\u201d and that the 15 percent tariff level is \u201csustainable\u201d, especially if it is not added to previous duties.<\/p>\n

Olivier Blanchard, a Robert Solow professor of economics emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, called the agreement \u201ccompletely unequal\u201d, saying the \u201casymmetric 15 percent tariffs are an EU defeat\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the law of the jungle prevails, the weak have little choice than to accept their fate,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cBut Europe could potentially have been strong, either alone or in a coalition with others. It would have had to be ready for stormy waters. But it would have gotten a better deal in the end and sent a strong message to the world. An opportunity lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernard Dewit, chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, voiced concern over the 15 percent baseline US tariff on EU goods, \u201cparticularly in light of Europe\u2019s broader economic and trade interests\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch a move risks escalating trans-Atlantic trade tensions and could undermine the stability and predictability that European businesses rely on,\u201d he told China Daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cEuropean exporters, including many in Belgium, operate in highly integrated global supply chains. The imposition of a blanket tariff will inevitably increase costs, reduce competitiveness, and possibly prompt retaliatory measures \u2014 ultimately hurting consumers and small- and medium-sized enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dewit urged Europe to further diversify its trade relationships. \u201cStrengthening ties with dynamic markets such as China, ASEAN, and Africa becomes increasingly strategic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament\u2019s Committee on International Trade, described the US-EU deal as \u201clopsided\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first assessment: not satisfactory,\u201d he wrote on X. \u201cConcessions have clearly been made that are difficult to accept. Deal with significant imbalance.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the published details of the agreement, the EU has pledged to purchase $750 billion worth of US energy and commit an additional $600 billion in US investments.<\/p>\n

The scale of the deal has left many European analysts stunned. Qin Yan, a principal analyst at ClearBlue Markets in Norway, told China Daily that every energy market expert she was talking with was busy calculating how much US energy the EU would need to buy to reach such a harsh number.<\/p>\n

Clyde Russell, an Asia commodities and energy columnist for Reuters, noted, \u201cPutting together the value of EU imports of US crude oil, LNG, and metallurgical coal gives a 2024 total of around $64.55 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is about 26 percent of the $250 billion the EU is supposed to spend on US energy a year under the framework agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qin likened the deal to \u201cvisiting a small cafe around the street corner and booking a banquet big enough for 1,000 tables of guests\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is that the commitment to US energy purchases should not undermine the EU\u2019s climate goal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Contact the writer at zhangzhouxiang@chinadaily.com.cn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Analysts say European bloc getting short end of bargain despite agreement on lower tariffs A worker checks a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699,479,49],"class_list":{"0":"post-308678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-european-union","12":"tag-tariffs","13":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114952368570646447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}