Yesterday, four weeks after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen sealed her surrender “trade deal” with US President Donald Trump, the EU and US finally published a joint statement spelling out what they agreed on. It makes for grim reading for Europeans. The four-page text locks in the one-sided “deal”, with the EU endorsing Trump’s 15% baseline tariff on all EU imports in blatant violation of international trade law. It is not yet a full legal text, but already it shows just how much the EU completely crumbled under US pressure.
The text commits to making a number of changes to EU legislation in response to US demands - mostly in climate legislation. The EU has committed to making adjustments to three laws that have raised "concerns" on the US side: the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), which was set to introduce import taxes for countries with less stringent climate legislation to combat carbon leakage, and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)/Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), both of which are supposed to require companies operating in Europe (including American ones) to report on their climate impact.
Perhaps most alarming for European citizens is the text’s promise to lower the EU’s vehicle safety and pollution standards. “With respect to automobiles, the US and EU intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards,” the statement says. James Nix, Vehicles Policy Manager at the NGO Transport & Environment, says this would force EU lawmakers to change European standards in order to allow “monster US pick-up trucks” on European roads. “To allow more US SUVs and pick-ups to be sold with far lower safety and air pollution standards would be a betrayal of all EU citizens,” he warns. “To implement this disastrous pact would mean scrapping European laws that mandate emergency braking, seat belt reminders, and ban razor sharp edges on vehicles. These are laws member states and MEPs would have to 'unmake’.” The question now is whether the EU’s legislature will accept making these changes dictated by von der Leyen.