{"id":330960,"date":"2025-08-09T16:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-09T16:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/330960\/"},"modified":"2025-08-09T16:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T16:23:19","slug":"eu-says-1-4-trillion-spending-pledge-to-us-in-no-way-binding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/330960\/","title":{"rendered":"EU says $1.4 trillion spending pledge to US \u2018in no way binding\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<strong>The European Union&#8217;s promise to invest over a trillion dollars in US energy and infrastructure is \u201cin no way binding\u201d, Brussels said on Thursday, marking the latest flare-up of tensions with the White House over key aspects of the recent EU-US trade deal.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe commitments\u2026 we have transmitted to the US administration [are] aggregate intentions as regards energy spending and as regards investment in the US economy by EU companies,\u201d Commission spokesperson Olof Gill told reporters on Thursday, adding that they are &#8220;in no way binding.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n&#8220;The Commission does not have the power and would never seek the power to try to enforce something like that, but they are faithfully transmitted intentions,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nHis remarks came two days after US President Donald <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euractiv.com\/section\/economy-jobs\/news\/trump-threatens-eu-with-35-tariff-if-investment-pledge-falls-through\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trump<\/a> threatened to hit the EU with a 35% tariff if the bloc failed to deliver on its commitment to invest $600 billion in US infrastructure over the next three and a half years of Trump&#8217;s presidential term.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nThe investment pledge is a central pillar of the EU-US deal clinched two weeks ago between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The agreement also includes a separate EU commitment to purchase $750 billion worth of US energy until 2028.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThey gave us $600 billion that we can invest in anything we want,\u201d he said on Tuesday. \u201cI can do anything I want with it. And the purpose was, they&#8217;ve been, you know, ripping us for so many years that it&#8217;s time that they pay up, and they have to pay up.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p>\nGill\u2019s comments came on the same day that the 15% blanket levy agreed by the EU and the US in the so-called \u201cframework agreement\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euractiv.com\/section\/politics\/news\/eu-stocks-rise-euro-strengthens-as-trumps-tariffs-kick-in\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">came into force<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nMost EU exports to the US were previously subject to a 10% minimum duty, on top of an average 4.8% levy agreed before Trump\u2019s return to the White House in January. The new 15% levy \u2013 which EU officials describe as a \u201cceiling\u201d \u2013 includes the 4.8% rate.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nHowever, US tariffs on EU cars and car parts remain subject to a special tariff totalling 27.5%, despite both sides indicating those products would be covered by the 15% levy.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nGill said\u00a0 he was unable to give a \u201ctimeline\u201d for when that higher car tariff would be lowered.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe have a clear commitment from the US that our 15% across the board tariff ceiling will also capture EU exports of cars and car parts, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors, and we look forward to that being implemented ASAP,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nEddy Wax and Nikolaus J. Kurmayer contributed reporting.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n(de)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The European Union&#8217;s promise to invest over a trillion dollars in US energy and infrastructure is \u201cin no&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330961,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,1699],"class_list":{"0":"post-330960","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"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114999735302699488","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330960","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=330960"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330960\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330961"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330960"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330960"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330960"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}