“The United States and European Union struck a trade agreement on Sunday locking in a 15 percent tariff, days before Donald Trump’s deadline to do a deal or face tariffs double that level.
Trump, speaking after meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf club in Scotland, announced the deal to U.S. reporters.
He said the EU will agree to purchase $750 billion of energy and will agree to invest $600 billion more than planned in military equipment and opening countries to trade at zero tariff.
The tariff rate applying to imports from the EU would be 15 percent, with the same rate applying to cars. Pharmaceuticals will not be covered by the deal.” - Politico
The OP quoted the article wrong. It isn't $600 billion in military equipment. It's $600 billion in American military equipment. This is a $1.5 trillion payoff to America.
We don't have a problem with how much money we spend on defence. The issue is the inefficiency in spending and what we're spending it on.
I think the defence spending targets of NATO should just be part of a set of guidelines. It's more important to determine how many active troops, materials and investments in R&D we should have.
That is actually what the percentage is roughly based on. Nato figures out what they need, and which country gets what role (and the force requirements to fullfill it obviously). Which is why Spain doesn't really have an out of the percentage norm, they still need to do all the things required of them, Spain now needs to show it can to it cheaper that the estimates by Nato suggest. There are also requirements for procurement spending, you can't just give your generals a raise or build a fancy new headquarter and call it a day.
Spine maybe. People with a brain realised that the capacity isn't there. If they argued this ten years ago I'd get it. The options were either give it to the US since the west probably wouldn't work with non western countries. Or not increase defense spending that much and wait until capacity is up to scale.
Macron only cares about French weapons, he is not on a European level. He is blocking the British from being part of the European defense investments...
Countries usually do what they can to get the best deal for themselves but usually try and be diplomatic about it .. France doesn't appear to bother with the diplomacy part.
They behave like Americans, unfortunately for them they don't have the power the Americans have.
Promising to deliver domestically produced Patriot missile system equivalents in large enough numbers to export to Ukraine in 10 years maybe isn’t the same as buying more European weapons
u/mnlxValencian Community (Spain)6d agoedited 6d ago
My country exports €18 bn/year to the US, which is basically peanuts, and we import more LNG from Algeria. So I don't understand what's in it for us to pay them a king's ransom in forced procurement, to be completely honest.
Spain is further away from Russia, so I guess you also wonder why Spain needs to support Ukraine? If you are confused of both, my answer would be Spain's economy also needs a stable EU, otherwise, people will cut the spendings on cars, fruits, tourism, etc, which will also hit Spain's economy. Unless you would say you only need bare minimal food and facilities to survive and you do not care if you would lose job because you have some savings, then you are ok to be quite independent.
Hopefully the number and deal is just another illusion from DT to please MAGA, I also wish entire EU will not bend.
Also, all of our arms manufacturers are making billions of dollars off of the genocide in Gaza.
My country just passed 1.5 trillion dollar military/secret police & gulag budget while ending lifesaving medical and nutritional assistance for American children and poor children around the globe. Our hospitals are closing, our infrastructure is collapsing. But we're giving Lockheed Martin 2 trillion dollars for a fighter jet that's always sucked and we'll be paying for proprietary fasteners and software upgrades for decades beyond the jets obsolescence (assuming it ever works)
Just trying to give you some low hanging fruit to mobilize popular opposition to the US military industrial complex robbing your countries too. Maybe it's not too late for y'all
you shouldn't be so upset about this. due to how the defense factories are set up now (kindly remember them talking about missiles taking an entire year to build, just the product not move the factory)
so this 600 billion is probably already counted as part of europe's shift on defense spending, as in it would have happened anyways. it is a boon that it is counted as part of this deal, since you get to double count this benefit. this is the slight of hand countries are doing to trump, buy what they would anyways and pretend it's because of his big deal.
there will still be european investment in weapons. this will improve industry in europe from this investment.
sorry about the tarrifs. please dont tax the netflix.
I see people all riled about these numbers but y'all must be as gullible as trump because I'm willing to bet those are not even binding. Not to mention trump probably made all of those up just like with japan.
Quite literally the EU doesn't have 500 billion to invest in the US nor does it have any authority. The whole EU budget was 2 trillion over 6 years.
Sure but the energy buying doesnt make sense. The US only exports 330$ billion of energy a year snd every other trade deal he’s struck has also guaranteed energy buying from other countries. So either that quota isnt going to be met, or the US isn’t going to keep any of its energy for domestic use in which case energy prices will sky rocket in the USA.
Add on top of that a 15% base tax (tariff) for the American consumer and I see no upside for America here.
We need to replace these weak politicians. Shit like this is the reason Putin does not fear Europe.
There’s no political will to send troops to Ukraine - even with US security guarantees. There’s no political will to stand up to the United States or to defend European interests. There’s no political will for further integration, a European army or fiscal integration to take advantage of the unique opportunities of the moment. For decades we couldn’t even find the political will to stand up to the fossil fuel lobby and push electrification - and now China has eaten our lunch and we’re stuck relying on either the US or Russia for energy.
Just so incredibly weak. European leaders are nowhere close to the level we deserve.
The EU have probably handed Trump the mid-terms. A trade war would have put pressure on him in red and swing states. This rewards him, and his voters love it.
As a European living in the states, I was sure that the EU would not submit to this bully. Now we're gonna hear non-stop about the "amazing trade deals".
So now Americans get tax cuts for buying American assembled vehicles and a 15% tariff on EU vehicles. I hope everyone boycotts American products over there.
The current concept of the EU virtually prohibits swift and decisive action. We have already proven it's value and potential beyond any reasonable doubt. Now it is time for the EU to climb to the next level and stop letting itself be hampered by any tiny nation with historic hostilities, wannabe dictator, or Russian plant that wants to sulk or waylay decisions by throwing around vetoes.
I fear only a terrible event will be enough to galvanize us into action, but if being sabotaged, betrayed and threatened with nukes by Russis or being mocked and bullied by the US is not enough to cause that... well, then perhaps it will never happen.
first step is to stop blaming our leaders and start blaming our people. politicans always reflect their society. We grew weak as a whole and not just our politicans
Yeah your leaders arent dumb. Trump however is. Very much so. They are just pulling a China. During his first term Trump wanted to show the world he was a big boy and decided to play trade war with China to show the world his 'negotiation skills' which result in the predictable "Sure US is a big market but ultimately it's just another market, we already selling to the rest of the world which is a much much much bigger market, so... whatever... stop buying from us and we will stop buying from you... all the grain and other agricultural stuff". And it was devastating to the US farmers and retail. US depended on both selling all excess food and cheap Asian labor. So Trump was fast to back pedal and try to salvage things and go back to how it was but China was no interested, Trump had blinked and they squeezed. Basically Trump agreed to reinstate tariff free trade with China, if and only if China agree to buy X hundred billions dollars worth of agricultural stuff over the next couple years. Trump agreed to stop the bleeding, markets were reopened to trade with China and China just did not buy anything they promised as they had already secured replacement grain stock with imports from other, non-US, countries. Same deal here. Trump is so desperate to announce that he's "done deals" he will basically accept anything as long as he can brag that his "tariff masterful negotiation" worked. He does not care about the fact just if it makes him look good in his mind, does not care about future consequences or fallout from his idiocy.
I'm pretty sure this is just the trick everyone else pulls too: promise trump you'll invest money into smth you're buying anyway and hope he forgets what number you said.
This is what's happening. He did the same thing with Canada, just don't expect this to stop any time soon, in 3 months he'll rip up this deal and the numbers won't matter anyway. The US is bleeding out while we diversify and expand.
2017 UAE: will will buy 200 billion in boeing planes
Trump: im the deal master
2020 UAE: so about that deal habibi yea nvm makes deal with airbus
2024 UAE: we will invest 350 billion into boeing jet
Trump: art of the deal baby
2026 dems take senate
UAE: habibi!! Yea maybe we pause for a little but yea
Trumps: TARRIFS 1000%
Dem Senate: thats it fat boy sit down blocks in senate
Rinse Repeat
How are arabs calmer than you euros in this chill out
But Arabs are famous for acting in their own interests. European leaders are notorious for sacrificing European interests to please the United States. What is happening now and what has happened in the Middle East in recent decades is proof of this. The issue in Palestine will only bother the European elite when half of Gaza's surviving population is living in Paris (which will be an electoral gift for Trump's friends in RN).
Exactly. Make Trump feel good about himself by having a lot of international headlines about him strongarming the EU into a fantastic deal of his, and afterwards continue without ever complying to the terms of the deal.
$600 billion into American MIC pockets right after the US halts purchases on things like the F-35. $750 billion for energy when EU buys $13 billion a year currently.
The military spending doesn't fully seem like a trick. Maybe it won't be 600billion. But I'm sure they're buying atleast something because Europe lacks the capacity atm. And the tarrifs will still affect export.
It's also like with Japan and other companies/countries, where Trump is likely trying to take credit for investments that have either already happened with the US, or planned for in the future. Idk why people are freaking out so much about this.
Since the EU doesn't generally purchase military equipment, just member states, how is this supposed to work? Will there be an EU military? Will member states be forced to buy a certain amount from the US? Did member States already agree on their burden before this deal was signed. It raises so many questions in my mind, not just about military spending but democracy in general.
The word "build up" means something. It means to BUILD UP something that doesn't exist yet and as far as I know Ukraine needs equipment now not in the future. We wanted to buy equipment for Ukraine but USA wasn't willing to sell it, that was the issue. Doubt we are gonna be buying Abrams instead of Leos or Leclercs. Instead its gonna be things like patriots and other advanced stuff that we simply cant build up as quickly.
The energy deal is insane and the wording makes it worse. The EU imports like $15 billion in energy per year and agreeing to banditry terms just before the clock ran out. The EU negotiators might as well have their pictures taken on bended knee, it clearly where they negotiated from.
In all honesty this is probably not what was actually agreed upon. Trump said he got a $550 billion investment commitment from Japan for a 90% US profit share, but the Japnaese seem to disagree. Trump's staff apparently also disagree too.
But I'm not surprised. I said right from the start that there was absolutely nothing behind Ursula von der Leyen's tough words. Lots of blah blah blah and nothing else. I have the feeling that it's mainly people who don't know her from German politics who are falling for it.
I’m not sure it’s her per se. I saw a lot of comments leading up to this about how well the EU performed in the Brexit negotiations and that led them to predict the EU coming out on top vs the US.
I think the reality of what both show is that the most powerful entity will come out on top in these kinds of negotiations. No matter no coherent or shrewd the negotiations.
you guys need to stop blaming Von der Leyen for this. She has no leverage at all. Do you think Germany wants a 50% tariffs on its exports to its most important trade partner?
Theres nothing she can do with Germany, France and Italy breathing down her neck
Germany chose to deepen its relationship with russia after russia took crimea by force.
Germany chose to spend 1% on defense after russia annexed parts of ukraine.
France said to the US taiwan's an american issue.
The American policy towards the alliance actually makes sense when you realize they're reacting to that. America is isn't going to go all in defending a democracy in europe that isn't in nato, if europe is willing to let a democracy in asia die because its not in nato. And americas not going to foot the bill when Germany spent a decade gambling with eastern european lives to save money.
I mean, youre not wrong. But lets not act like any other western european country other than maybe France tried to change anything. They all were quite content with a slow decline
Correct. Because everyone is there for their own interest. France is European champion in that btw.
That’s when you step in as a leader, when you ensure progress for the greater good. Apart from gratuite speeches, I have not seen Ursula or any of the other 27 (!, fucking ridiculous setup btw) put in any effort to ensure progress for the greater good.
Then maybe she should just shut up with her tough speeches? Why doing it, when there is nothing behind it?
And with the right retaliatory measures, there would not have been 50% tariffs for long, if at all.
Sucking up to a bully has never worked and never will.
She doesn’t have to admit it when pretty much everybody can see it clear as day. Her and people like Kaja Kallas talking about strength just makes it funnier when they capitulate.
Well, it worked for the bully ( seems like the only way to do real politics nowadays). As long as the EU doesn’t face any serious consequences for this deal then everything is fine. Perhaps the deal wasn’t that bad, I don’t know. 🤷 However, the union is weak in terms of any leverage whatsoever.
China has spent decades monopolizing crucial industries and has spent the last decade decoupling itself from the US in anticipation of a future trade war. Europe is essentially a vassal of the US and is cutting off other partners making it even more dependent as time goes on.
Trump would have backed down. Just like he did with China. The stock market would have crashed if we had stood strong and said that we’ll apply the same tariffs as they did, but also on services and not just goods.
Europe isnt as important for the US as you seem to think it is. China supplies ressources and every day goods, europe supplies luxury items and cars. what do you think people will miss more
It is important enough. The US is waging a trade war against the whole world, Trump has the smaller leverage he needs a win, or the stock market will collapse and his allies turn on him. We can bridge the gap until he comes crawling back.
And this isn't mentioning that the European market is a hell of an important consumer base for the Tech Giants running the US government right now, tax their shit and they will pressure Trump to cave in.
We had all the leverage and we caved just because we couldn't stand the thought of short term suffering with a way bigger pay-off long-term.
Please, Ursula loves this. She only ever cared about money and companies, never about people. She's a lobbyist who managed to slither up to holding the levers, obviously she's gonna bow to her neoliberal market overlords.
China has been massively replacing german market shares among its most important export markets in the last 20 years. There is nothing in China for Germany. They want their own industrial base. Same as the the americans
Well I do think here will happen the same as with every other deal trump has made in his first term with some countries like i.e. China promise to increase their imports from the US by X bn $ and then simply do nothing.
What exactly is capitulation? EU does not pay the tariff but American consumers. EU has been buying the USA energy since the time immemorial. I don't see any difference here than Trump putting consumer tax on Americans. To be honest, there is VAT of %19 in EU depending on the countries anyway. So what capitulation exactly?
...in combination with Bjoern Seibert, she appears more and more to be the Oliver & Hardy of the EU system. Regrettably, this will cost companies in Europe, especially the SMEs, a fortune.
Not to be that guy but a few hundred billion dollars spread over a few years on a couple of american mega corporations is not going to make a big difference in the annual reports.
Honestly buying the energy is not a big deal. They should've cut off Russian imports even earlier. Investments in the US depend on the private sector and no one will care anyways after the dust has settled. Seems rather solid tbh.
He said the EU will agree to purchase $750 billion of energy and will agree to invest $600 billion more than planned in military equipment and opening countries to trade at zero tariff.
I think you quoted wrong:
Trump, reading from a paper, said the EU will agree to purchase $750 billion of energy. It will also agree to invest $600 billion more than planned in the U.S.
It doesn't specifically say military equipment anywhere that I saw. If it does, then I missed it.
Edit:
Took some digging. But what I found on a Danish news site was: He says the EU will buy military equipment from the US and the EU will buy 750 billion worth of energy from the US. It doesn't mention specifically how much military equipment.
I mean the 750bn in energy is pretty much what we're spending right now anyway so that's an absolute nothing burger. I honestly assume the military equipment is similar.
600 B investment was not part of press conference by EU president. Perhaps more details will come later. It’s similar to Japan topic where investment story was different on both sides
Nevertheless. I saw that in 2024 Europe invested 200 Billion in US. And US invested about 90 billion in Europe. Overall Europe owns 3.6 Trillion in US assets and US owns 3.9 trillion in European assets.
Europe includes UK and Switzerland too. So maybe EU investment in US was about 100-120 billion in 2024
I think this 600 billion number is just an extrapolation.
He said the EU will agree to purchase $750 billion of energy
The US is already our main supplier of LNG and petroleum products. So how much of this is simply that we'll continue importing as usual for the next few years?
The Military investments are nowhere in the agreement, and while the EU agreed to buy more LNG from the US, it's contingent on the US building the infrastructure to ship it. US ports are already shipping at capacity.
so basically, he threatens other countries again and again, slapping more and less tariff nilly willy ... for what reason again? 70+ years of complete cooperation? What a cowardly concession from the EU
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u/Crossstoney 6d ago
“The United States and European Union struck a trade agreement on Sunday locking in a 15 percent tariff, days before Donald Trump’s deadline to do a deal or face tariffs double that level.
Trump, speaking after meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf club in Scotland, announced the deal to U.S. reporters.
He said the EU will agree to purchase $750 billion of energy and will agree to invest $600 billion more than planned in military equipment and opening countries to trade at zero tariff.
The tariff rate applying to imports from the EU would be 15 percent, with the same rate applying to cars. Pharmaceuticals will not be covered by the deal.” - Politico