Trump Secures Record US-EU Trade Deal With $750B in European Investment

President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a trade deal between the U.S. and European Union while meeting at Trump’s luxury resort in Turnberry, Scotland, Sunday afternoon. 

Trump said there will officially be a 15% tariff “straight across for automobiles and everything else.”

This means all of the European countries will open up for trading with the U.S. which Trump said “were essentially closed” to the U.S. before. 

Additionally, von der Leyen said Europe will buy $150 billion of American energy and also make other investments worth $600 billion in the U.S as part of the deal.

People don’t realize this deal “is bigger than any other deal,” Trump had declared during the press briefing before the deal was announced.

Trump said the U.S. and the EU have “had a very good relationship over the years,” but it’s been one-sided and unfair to the U.S. 

“We have a rough situation,” Trump said at the beginning of the briefing. “If we want to sell cars in Europe, we’re not allowed to, and as you know, they sell millions and millions of cars.”

Von der Leyen acknowledged the one-sidedness of the current relationship between the U.S. and EU.

“We have a surplus. The United States has a deficit, and we have to rebalance it,” she said. “We have an excellent trade relation. It’s a huge volume of trade that we have together, so we will make it more sustainable.”

The EU leader also agreed with Trump during the press conference that they had a 50-50 chance of striking a deal.

“You’re known as a tough negotiator and dealmaker,” von der Leyen told Trump. “What is in front of us, if we are successful, I think it would be the biggest deal each of us has ever struck.” Shortly after the press conference the deal was reached.

Trump said the Aug. 1 tariff deadline “is there for everyone” and that he would not lower the 15% tariff rate for the EU. 

“The deals all start on Aug. 1,” Trump said. “You know, if they don’t want to pay tariffs, the best way to do it is just build your plant in the United States.”

Trump told the press that if the U.S. did a deal with the EU, that would be the end of the tariff matter.

“We’ll go, I guess a number of years at least, before we have to even discuss it again,” he said.

During the press briefing, Trump also said pharmaceuticals would not be part of the deal because the U.S. must make them itself.

“I think it’s important to say pharmaceuticals are very special. We can’t be in a position where we’re relying on other countries,” Trump said. “Now Europe is going to make pharmaceuticals, drugs, and everything else for us too—a lot—but we’re going to have also our own.”

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