Adding insult to injury, instead of approving the deal as negotiated, the European Parliament is now trying to rewrite it by tacking on four new amendments. These changes would include sunrise and sunset clauses, suspension mechanisms and safeguards that were never part of the original Turnberry deal.
In plain English, Brussels is trying to move the goalposts while the game is underway.
That’s not how reciprocal trade deals work. Reciprocity means both sides deliver what they promise. It does not mean one side delivers, while the other stalls, delays and reserves the right to add new demands whenever it suits. Nor is that how allies are treated.
The EU’s commitments are clear: zero percent tariffs on all U.S. industrial exports; duty-free quotas for key U.S. agricultural goods; and changes and flexibilities for the U.S. on burdensome regulations that in some instances discriminate against American companies. The EU has not complied with all of these commitments, and if a deal is a deal, we expect that it will do so in every particular, which will put our trade relationship on a stable growth trajectory for the future.
Trump has seen enough. On May 1 he announced the targeted reimposition of 25 percent tariffs on passenger cars and light trucks imported from the EU because the EU “is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade deal.” The action was narrow, surgical and proportionate. It would apply only to finished vehicles, not to parts or to cars assembled in American plants by European companies.
On May 7, after “a great call” with von der Leyen, Trump agreed to extend the date for reimposing auto tariffs to July 4. While the prospects for a deal certainly look better after their call, all eyes will be on what comes out of the trilogues. But Trump’s message remained unmistakable: The U.S. will honor the Framework Agreement when our partner does the same. Otherwise, we will protect our workers and industries.
Rather than an effort to instigate a trade war, the auto tariffs represent the overdue enforcement of a trade peace with which the EU itself has so far failed to comply — and may yet try to change. Trump has repeatedly demonstrated he prefers a deal to a dispute — and we have a deal. The EU still has time to choose cooperation over confrontation. We sincerely hope that it will.