Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
European circles are currently witnessing a debate about trade relations between the United States and the European Union and ways to deal with the disagreements and tensions that arise from time to time due to the policies of US President Donald Trump. The European Playbook magazine in Brussels reported that after her disagreement with her president over the EU's policy towards Gaza, Teresa Ribera, Vice President of the European Commission, is once again sticking her head out over the EU fence. In an interview with the Financial Times, Ribera called on the EU to be "courageous" in its response to Donald Trump's threats regarding digital regulations and to "avoid the temptation to submit to the interests of others."
Under the headline "Enough with Playing Nice": The magazine quoted Ribera as saying that EU negotiators "tried to be nice to see how we can restore a relationship of trust" with Washington during their trade talks with the United States. She added: "We may be nice and polite, and try to find ways to resolve problems and differences, but we cannot accept anything" demanded by the Trump administration. "We cannot be subservient to the will of a third country." Competition Commissioner Ribera said the EU should be prepared to abandon the trade agreement with Trump to protect its tech regulations. “That’s a pretty obvious thing that we’re going to defend,” she added. “So if we have this general approach and there’s this attempt to reopen things, it’s natural to ask: ‘Well, then there’s no trade agreement?’ We can’t manipulate our values ​​just to accommodate other people’s concerns.”
The magazine also noted that French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that Europe should consider retaliatory action against US tech companies if Trump follows through on his threat, while Europe’s Industrial Strategy Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné said the EU-U.S. trade agreement should be reviewed if Trump’s “intentions” become “statements.”
The reality of trade—and its consequences: Ribera’s comments come after the European Commission was forced on Thursday to reject suggestions that it was forced into an unequal trade agreement with Washington for fear of losing US security guarantees—after its top trade official appeared to say exactly that. The EU's Director-General for Trade, Sabine Weyand, stated this week that the EU is essentially forced to accept an agreement with Washington for fear that the US will "abandon the security partnership with the EU," in an interview with Florian Eder, editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. Referring to talks with the Trump administration, Weyand said, "You haven't heard me use the term negotiation, and you won't." Not just about trade: She explained, "We had a discussion about this within the EU, about what we are trying to achieve, and we are looking at the broader picture, not trade in isolation. The decision was that the US must maintain its security alignment with us and maintain its commitment to Ukraine." Weyand concluded that, given the "little appetite for countermeasures," "this was the best understanding we could reach." On September 3, the European Parliament begins deliberations on the Commission's proposal to reduce tariffs on US goods. The legislation, which aims to codify Brussels' commitments to the trade agreement, was unveiled late Thursday. The bottom line—and one that Playbook has been asking all week—is whether the EU is prepared to make the same economic sacrifices for its digital rules as it did for Ukraine.
Thierry Breton, the digital commissioner ousted by von der Leyen, sharply criticized the trade agreement with the commission. In an opinion piece in The Guardian published on Thursday, he wrote: “We are told that humiliation is the price we have to pay for stability. But if we don’t resist now, we will face humiliation and instability. Will this latest attack on our digital rules be enough to finally wake us up?”
The EU-US tariff agreement continues to generate criticism and skepticism among German companies.
According to a survey by the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce, 55% of companies view the agreement as a significant burden on the European economy and support a tougher stance in subsequent negotiations.
The survey included 3,500 German companies, mostly in the industrial sector, according to the German news agency dpa. Yesterday, the European Commission presented two proposals paving the way for the implementation of the EU-US Joint Statement of 21 August 2025. These proposals represent the first steps in this implementation and guarantee US tariff exemption for the vital EU automotive sector, retroactive to 1 August.
These steps contribute to restoring stability and predictability to EU-US trade and investment relations, benefiting companies, workers, and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.
The first proposal concerns a proposal to eliminate tariffs on US industrial goods and provide preferential market access for a range of US seafood and non-sensitive agricultural goods. The second proposes to extend duty-free access for lobster, now including processed lobster.
The Commission will continue to cooperate with the US to reduce tariffs, including in the context of negotiations on a future EU-US agreement on reciprocal, fair, and balanced trade.  The European Commission yesterday put forward two proposals paving the way for the implementation of the EU-US Joint Statement of 21 August 2025. These proposals represent the first steps in this implementation and guarantee US tariff exemption for the vital EU automotive sector retroactively from 1 August.
These steps contribute to restoring stability and predictability to EU-US trade and investment relations, benefiting companies, workers, and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.
The first proposal concerns a proposal to eliminate tariffs on US industrial goods and provide preferential market access for a range of US seafood and non-sensitive agricultural goods. The second proposes to extend duty-free access for lobster, now including processed lobster.
The Commission will continue to cooperate with the US to reduce tariffs, including in the context of negotiations on a future EU-US agreement on reciprocal, fair, and balanced trade. The Commission's proposals constitute the legislative step necessary to approve the EU tariff reductions set out in Section 1 of the EU-US Joint Statement. Parliament and the Council must now approve the proposals under normal legislative procedures before the EU tariff reductions enter into force.
In line with Section 3 of the EU-US Joint Statement, the US is expected to apply the agreed-upon 15% US tariff ceiling on EU vehicles and parts.
These tariff reductions, from 27.5% to 15%, are expected to enter into force on the first day of the month in which the EU legislative proposals are submitted, i.e. 1 August 2025. This will save car manufacturers more than €500 million in customs duties that would have been paid on exports in just one month. The United States also committed to eliminating tariffs completely or almost completely on certain categories of products to which only the most-favored-nation tariff will apply, starting September 1 (non-accessible natural resources, including cork, all aircraft and their parts, generic medicines and their components, and chemical precursors). Both sides agreed to work to further expand this list.
On August 21, the EU and the US issued a Joint Statement on Transatlantic Trade and Investment. This Joint Statement confirms and builds on the political agreement reached by President von der Leyen and President Trump on July 27.
The EU legislative proposal covers all the commitments made by the EU in Section 1 of the EU-US Joint Statement and demonstrates our shared willingness to continue cooperating to restore stability and predictability in EU-US trade and investment.
The Transatlantic Partnership is a key lifeline for global trade and the most important bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world. Trade between the EU and the US in goods and services has doubled over the past decade, exceeding €1.6 trillion in 2024, including €867 billion in goods and €817 billion in services. This means that more than €4.2 billion in goods and services cross the Atlantic every day. This deep and comprehensive partnership is underpinned by mutual investment. In 2022, EU and US companies invested €5.3 trillion in each other's markets.