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MEPs are set to complain widely about the EU-US trade agreement when they confront Commission trade chief and agreement negotiator Sabine Weyand during a Parliamentary hearing on the deal on Wednesday.
“While clearly we understand that the EU has chosen stability, diplomacy and to keep a cool-minded approach, however this cannot translate into the acceptance of an unfair and asymmetric trade relation with our American friends and partners,” Italian MEP Brando Benifei.
“As it is now, it is not acceptable,” Benifei told Euronews, speaking on behalf of his Socialists & Democrats group.
Last week the Commission proposed reducing tariffs on most US industrial goods, as well as less sensitive agricultural products, to 0%, as it began implementing the agreement reached with the US at the end of August. At the same time, the agreement provides that the EU will pay a 15% tariff on its exports to the US.
The Commission’s legislative proposal must now navigate its way through the Parliament and the EU Council for approval.
The Greens are also speaking out against an unbalanced agreement and rejecting the Commission’s argument that it will ensure stable trade relations with the US.
“The deal has major disadvantages for the EU,” German Green MEP Anna Cavazzini said, adding: “The only ‘gain’ that the Commission is selling us is stability. However, Trump’s incessant demands and new tariff threats are turning this process into a waste of time.”
Just after the agreement was concluded, US President Donald Trump threatened countries with digital legislation — like the EU — with tariffs, accusing them of directly targeting Big Tech.
According to the German MEP, the proposal to reduce EU tariffs on US imports will clearly “not have a smooth sailing through the European Parliament.”
The agreement, which is still under discussion within the Parliament’s largest group, the centre-right EPP, has nonetheless failed to win the full support of some of its individual members within the parliamentary committee on trade.
“Capitulation”
“This is an outright capitulation — we’re committing to colossal sums for investments and pledges to purchase billions worth of chips and military equipment, while granting the US 0% tariffs,” French MEP Celine Imart (EPP) said, “all this for the reindustrialisation of the US !”
Swedish MEP Jörgen Warborn, who coordinates the work of the EPP within the trade committee, is more cautious.
“It is hard to put yourself in the situation of the negotiators of the Commission,” he told Euronews, adding: “It is good that we have a framework agreement, because hopefully this can give us more stability. But at the same time, I don’t see the deal as balanced as I would have hoped it to be.”
Within Renew, the liberal group at the Parliament, some MEPs are also angry. The treatment granted to US agricultural products — benefiting from 0% tariffs or favourable quotas for certain items — is not going down well.
“I’m outraged by the whole situation. Yes, of course, there are the US’s promises when it comes to defence, but this agreement truly exposes our total dependence, which forces us to sign just about anything,” Belgian MEP Benoit Cassart (Renew), who is also a farmer, said, adding: “I disagree with those who think the EU has ‘won’ just because things didn’t turn out worse. If that’s the logic, then next time the US will start at 50% and we’ll end up with 40% tariffs on all our exports.”
French MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, who coordinates Renew in the committee, considers too that “there is a widespread feeling that we [the EU] failed to put any real leverage on the table.”