French President Emmanuel Macron, on his first official visit to Spain, together with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, expressed their doubts about the trade deal reached in Washington D.C. between US President Donald Trump and EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker. Juncker agreed to a deal that, at least on the surface, means the end of tariffs on aluminum and steel for the Europeans and no further threats of tariffs on European autos. In exchange for this tariff relief, Europeans are supposed to protect America’s trade interests relative to LNG and soybeans by purchasing American shale gas and helping American soybean farmers who are suffering the ill effects of the trade war between the US and China which has meant retaliatory tariffs on American goods, one of the chief of which has been soybeans.
That’s the deal in a nutshell, and in either case, Europe is the one paying the Americans, whether it’s tariffs or American stuff. The two European leaders expressed their determination not to lower their standards to satisfy the Americans, that they won’t be bribed by Washington to surrender their values. At least that’s the talk for right now.
Xinhua reports:
MADRID, July 27 (Xinhua) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and visiting French President Emmanuel Macron showed skepticism on a trade agreement between the United States and the European Union (EU) after their meeting here on Thursday, Spanish Radio and Television Corporation RTVE reported.
U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday agreed to mitigate the transatlantic trade tensions over Washington-launched tariffs. The two agreed to work together towards “zero tariffs, zero non-tariff barriers, and zero subsidies on non-auto industrial goods.”
However, Macron said in his first official visit to Spain that he’s not in favor of a trade negotiation right now.
“A good commercial dialogue can only be made under a balanced and reciprocal relationship, not under threat, at all circumstances. I am not in favor of starting to negotiate a broad trade agreement now, because it’s not allowed by the context,” said the French president.
Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez expressed concerns over the U.S. trade protectionism.
“We will not stay calm… we are going to defend the Common Agrarian Policy as it is defined,” the Spanish PM said, underlining the government’s determination in supporting Spain’s agricultural products export against U.S. trade protectionism.
“We do not want any trade war, but the goals that the European Union has accomplished should be preserved,” Sanchez stressed.
Moreover, both countries refused to lower their labor, health or environmental standards in order to reach an agreement with the United States.
“We can not ask our industrialists or our farmers to move towards a sustainable model meanwhile sign trade agreements that would not respect those standards,” Macron argued.
The French president also urged Trump to give “clear gestures” that U.S. would withdraw tariffs on steel and aluminum.
The Spanish PM noted that all agreements negotiated by the European Commission should also be approved by the European parliament and all the member states before they are finally carried out, implying that the agreement that Trump made with Juncker on Wednesday doesn’t have any actual effect now.
But much political talk these doesn’t really go anywhere, as one might have noticed the last time there were talks with the Americans to put an end to a budding trade war. The Chinese tried this a few months ago, but to no avail. The Americans were back to throwing accusations and tariffs at the Chinese all over again before the ink on the trade war truce was even dry. And of course, as Trump attempts to negotiate the best possible deal for the Americans, that means that any and all deals are perennially up for grabs as long as he occupies the White House. The Iranians can tell all about that.
Juncker’s deal with Trump may mean no tariffs as long as the Europeans are buying American stuff, but that’s just for right now. Trump could decide that the deal is too close to being equitable, and therefore announce that the cost of tariffs protection is going up, that more is required of the Europeans to safeguard the conditions of the agreement, and hence, the problems for the Europeans could all come right back in a flash.
But then, the Europeans were supposed to provide some viable economic support for Tehran in order to preserve the JCPOA, but so far, that’s been mostly talk, and not much has moved in that direction in a meaningful way since Trump’s pullout from the agreement and the EU’s declaration of commitment to thereto. And then there’s the talk about European values while tossing sanctions at Russia and totally compromising on the humanitarian angle when it comes to migrants or, for that matter, the Palestinians who are currently under seige from the IDF.
The Europeans can complain about a so called Russian occupation of eastern Ukraine while bombing and occupying regions of Syria without any legitimate justification under international law. Is it really about ‘European values’ or the fact that Macron just might feel a little slighted by Trump for his canning of the Iran deal and metals tariffs, even after their wonderful talks and meetings at the White House?
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