BRUSSELS — European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen defended the EU’s controversial commerce accord with Donald Trump, warning that failure to strike a deal would have been a present to Europe’s rivals.
“Think about for a second that the 2 largest democratic economies had not managed to succeed in an settlement and as an alternative launched a commerce warfare — solely Moscow and Beijing could be celebrating,” von der Leyen wrote in an op-ed printed Saturday night time in El Mundo.
The Fee chief painted the four-page framework settlement, finalized final week, as a deliberate alternative for “stability and predictability over escalation and confrontation.”
The pact caps most U.S. tariffs on EU items at 15 %, together with on vehicles and prescription drugs, and carves out exemptions for generics and plane elements.
Critics, together with former World Commerce Group boss Pascal Lamy, have warned the accord dangers undermining Europe’s credibility as a defender of rules-based commerce.
However von der Leyen insisted the EU had secured a novel consequence: a single tariff ceiling of 15 %, not like the layered charges Washington applies to different companions.
She additionally burdened that EU meals security, well being and digital guidelines stay untouched, and pointed to Brussels’ efforts to diversify commerce ties, together with by means of offers with Mexico, the South American bloc of Mercosur international locations, and a objective of clinching a pact with India earlier than yr’s finish.
Von der Leyen echoed former European Central Financial institution chief Mario Draghi, who on Friday referred to as to tear down inside market boundaries, arguing they do extra to hobble development than any overseas tariff. “If Europe desires to totally unlock its potential, that is probably the most pressing problem,” she wrote.