Trump and Von der Leyen, conflicting information

So, what really transpired between US President Donald Trump and his European Commission (EC) counterpart Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday night in Scotland when they sealed a trade agreement that for many seems lopsided in, guess in whose favour?

Well, other than the European Federalists (EF), and other than calling it a political humiliation for Europe and bad news for business people, they made who wins in that deal very clear in a post on X with the following image.

“The European Union (EU) just accepted a trade deal where the US imposes 15 per cent tariffs on most EU goods, keeps 50 per cent on steel and aluminium, while Europe commits to buying $750 billion in US gas and investing $600 billion in the United States,” they wrote.

This is not a deal

“This isn’t a deal. It’s the cost of not being a federal Europe,” said the EF, who describe themselves as a supranational political movement committed to uniting Europe along federal lines since 1946.

But back to the question of what happened, because what each of them has said so far is conflicting with each other.

“A day after it was announced, confusion has emerged over key elements of the EU–US trade agreement, with Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen offering sharply diverging interpretations,” wrote Belga News Agency.

On pharmaceuticals, Trump stated that the deal did not include them, which means they still might be subject to tariffs exceeding the 15 per cent on EU goods they both agreed in Scotland last Sunday.

And the conflicting versions continue

However, Von der Leyen told reporters the 15 per cent cap applied to most sectors, including cars, semiconductors and pharmaceutical products. 

Trump claims that the current tariffs of 50 per cent on EU steel and aluminium imports will not be modified. Von der Leyen affirms these taxes will be reduced and replaced with a quota-based system.

Senior US officials told Bloomberg that the 15 per cent tariff did apply to pharmaceutical products, although a separate Section 232 investigation will be launched within three weeks. 

Those investigations are aimed at evaluating whether specific imports threaten national security and may lead to additional restrictions. Similar reviews are underway for aerospace and semiconductor imports, the financial news agency added.

These discrepancies highlight significant challenges in finalising the trade agreement, as the two leaders have differing interpretations of the terms, particularly on these critical sectors. So, in the end, more negotiations might still need to take place before a final trade agreement is signed, sealed and delivered.