Dichiarazione del presidente von der Leyen sull’accordo sulle tariffe e sul commercio con gli Stati Uniti

We have reached a deal on tariffs and trade with the US.

Today’s deal creates certainty in uncertain times. It delivers stability and predictability, for citizens and businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. This is a deal between the two largest economies in the world. We trade USD 1.7 trillion per year. Together we are a market of 800 million people. And we are nearly 44% of global GDP. Just a few weeks after the NATO summit, this is the second building block, reaffirming the transatlantic partnership.

Allow me to go into some details. We have stabilised on a single 15% tariff rate for the vast majority of EU exports. This rate applies across most sectors, including cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. This 15% is a clear ceiling. No stacking. All-inclusive. So it gives much-needed clarity for our citizens and businesses. This is absolutely crucial.

Today we have also agreed on zero-for-zero tariffs on a number of strategic products. This includes all aircraft and component parts, certain chemicals, certain generics, semiconductor equipment, certain agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. And we will keep working to add more products to this list.

On steel and aluminium, the EU and the US face the common external challenge of global overcapacity. We will work together to ensure fair global competition. And to reduce barriers between us, tariffs will be cut. And a quota system will be put in place.

We will also increase our energy cooperation. Purchases of US energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe’s energy security. We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of US LNG, oil and nuclear fuels.

US AI chips will help power our AI gigafactories and help the US to maintain their technological edge.

Today with this deal, we are creating more predictability for our businesses. In these turbulent times, this is necessary for our companies to be able to plan and invest. We are ensuring immediate tariff relief. This will have a clear impact on the bottom lines of our companies. And with this deal, we are securing access to our largest export market. At the same time, we will give better access for American products in our market. This will benefit European consumers and make our businesses more competitive. This deal provides a framework from which we will further reduce tariffs on more products, address non-tariff barriers, and cooperate on economic security. Because when the EU and US work together as partners, the benefits are tangible on both sides.

At the same time, we are building a true foreign economic policy. And for this we have started at home. We are taking bold action to make Europe more competitive, more innovative and more dynamic. Our Single Market with its 450 million consumers is our greatest asset and our safe harbour, especially in turbulent times.

We are also creating new trade partnerships around the world – expanding from the 76 we have. We have concluded negotiations in the last months with Mercosur, Mexico and Indonesia. In an unsettled world, Europe is a reliable partner. And we will continue to deliver deals that help safeguard our prosperity.

Finally, I want to thank President Trump personally for his personal commitment and his leadership to achieve this breakthrough. He is a tough negotiator, but he is also a dealmaker. I want to thank Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and his team for their tireless work and skilful steer; they have done most of the heavy lifting. And I want to thank our Member States for their trust and their commitment. Our unity is our strength, at home and abroad. We will continue to work hard for the benefit of all Europeans.

Thank you.

This is an instrument of surrender.

This is not a deal between allies at all.

Interesting she mentioned Pharma, but Trump said that wasn’t part of the deal.

We need a better leader who can actually say and mean stuff. Von der leyen speaks so much but says nothing.

LE: we need an actual leader, not a bureaucrat

Charlatan of a politician.

*Allow me to go into some details. We have stabilised on a single 15% tariff rate for the vast majority of EU exports. This rate applies across most sectors, including cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. This 15% is a clear ceiling. No stacking. All-inclusive. So it gives much-needed clarity for our citizens and businesses. This is absolutely crucial.*

No mention that the EU has a 15% tariff? Selling your soul for ‘stability’ that might change because he woke up with a bad mood

*On steel and aluminium, the EU and the US face the common external challenge of global overcapacity. We will work together to ensure fair global competition. And to reduce barriers between us, tariffs will be cut. And a quota system will be put in place.*

Doesnt even have the balls to mention the fact that she achieved nothing on this. 50% is still applicable

*We will also increase our energy cooperation. Purchases of US energy products will diversify our sources of supply and contribute to Europe’s energy security. We will replace Russian gas and oil with significant purchases of US LNG, oil and nuclear fuels.*

Code word for replacing Russian dependence with US dependence. Every 4 year having to hope the americans elect a stable person is a hell of a strategy.

*US AI chips will help power our AI gigafactories and help the US to maintain their technological edge.*

Maybe go work for a US consulting bureau Ursula. So happy we’re helping the US maintain its technological edge while being singularly dependent on their tech industry.

The deal might be better for EU then it’s writen down. These deals always get watered down. The issue is how fast we capitulated. Defeatist mentality. Country leaders (Merz and Meloni running to kiss his feet) are already celebrating that we “got a deal so we can finally stabilize the markets”. All that talk about independence from foreign superpowers got trown overboard really fast

Holy shit, this statement reads worst than I thought it would. It’s actual capitulation dressed up in a bow. For all of her tough talk, VdL folded easier than my phone, which is designed to fold. There’s basically no tariffs on stuff the Americans buy from us that are actually beneficial to them (chemicals, semiconductor machineries, etc.) while they can tariff finished goods from us (pharmaceuticals, cars, steel, etc.). And we buy their gas.

Okay complaints aside. Who wants to organise a protest?

“Finally, I want to thank President Trump personally for his personal commitment and his leadership to achieve this breakthrough. He is a tough negotiator, but he is also a dealmaker. ” That’s bullshit. Almost every European hates Trump

Wow this is pretty bad, because it proves on one hand that past US presidents could have gotten more favorable deals, if they had exerted enough pressure on the EU, which validates Trump’s base and proves that the Trump experiment (authoritarian approach) is semi-successful in getting concessions. This could possibly result in more Trumpesque figures appearing in the future not only in the US, but also in other countries.

Strongman leaders seem to be the new meta in the world unfortunately.

No fight in the EU seemingly

Oh I miss the times of Juncker… he’d not have held back in calling Trump a pedo lol

Lmao, looks like Putin was right. The EU has bowed to Trump after all.

It’s a mistake to give in to Trump. He will be back in 3 months to ask for more.

Like in Kipling’s poem, [Dane-geld](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling%27s_Verse,_Inclusive_Edition,_1885-1918/Danegeld):

>That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
>
>You never get rid of the Dane.

(the poem is about the English paying Viking Danes money to stop the pillaging)

More “unconditional support” from the absolute disgrace that is Ursula von der Leyen. 

>At the same time, **we will give better access for American products in our market**. This will benefit European consumers and make our businesses more competitive.

I’m asking this again. Will we see hormone-treated beef and chlorinated chicken now as we giving also better access for US products into the EU? Everyone asked for that, right?

Russia and the United States played the game of good cop and bad cop.

**”we will give better access for American products in our market. This will benefit European consumers and make our businesses more competitive.”**

This makes me cringe.

The U.S., already a business Walhalla with lower taxes, fewer regulations, and massive investor support, now gets easier access to the EU market. And somehow, that’s supposed to make our businesses more competitive?

Can someone explain this logic to me?

From where I stand, the EU already suffocates its own businesses with endless rules and sky-high taxes. Now, on top of that, we’re opening the gates to American companies (giants with more flexibility, larger margins, lower taxes, and fewer constraints) to compete directly with our businesses, which already have both hands tied behind their backs.

There’s no room left for business in the EU. The EU doesn’t want us here.

Better to move somewhere you’re not punished for trying to build something.

**If the EU doesn’t come up with a massive injection into business and innovation in the coming months or years. WE ARE FINISHED.**

This is beyond pathetic and humiliating. I am shocked. I’ve been a big believer of the EU project, but today is a cold shower.

The President of the European Commission really wrote that Europe will help the US “maintain its technological edge.”

This can’t be real… Am I having a crazy dream in which the Americans are slowly but surely infiltrating and completely taking over the EU? It must be.

With all of Trump’s claims about such and such new deal or project or anything, check what the situation was before it.

For example, this deal promises that EU buys a lot of American energy. But if you check the past couple of years, you will notice that the EU is actually already buying more energy than this deal promises. So nothing changes.

This deal talks about tariffs and quotas on things like aluminium. But EU is an aluminium importer. It does not sell aluminium to USA. So nothing changes. Trump literally doesn’t understand trade with the EU, he doesn’t know what USA actually buys and sells.

Remember also that tariffs are an import tax. Them keeping a tariff on the EU is them shooting their own economy in the foot, as they are making everything more expensive for American customers. Americans are the ones who pay the tariff. And they are currently having tariffs on almost the whole world, so it isn’t like other trade partners are going to take over EU’s share. Meanwhile, Trump isn’t doing domestic industrial policy like subsidies for such and such manufacturing, so it isn’t like American products are going to replace European ones just like that.

The only really interesting part for me so far is the military spending part. The 5% rule for NATO is already absurd, but I think for we should be buying as many weapons as we can for Ukraine, so I am fine with a temporary increase in purchases of American weapons. But long-term spending should obviously go to our own European industry.

German car industry got their tarrifs lowered from 27,5 to 15 percent. The rest of the EU got sacrificed for that. VdL and the German leadership are completely compromised.