BRUSSELS: The European Commission called Sunday for Washington to abide by the terms of the trade deal struck last year with the EU, as President Donald Trump announced new global tariff hikes a day after an adverse Supreme Court ruling.
“A deal is a deal,” said a commission statement.
“As the United States’ largest trading partner, the EU expects the US to honour its commitments set out in the Joint Statement — just as the EU stands by its commitments,” it added.
“The European Commission requests full clarity on the steps the United States intends to take following the recent Supreme Court ruling on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).”
Trump temporarily raised the global duty on imports into the United States to 15 percent on Saturday.
The move delivered a fresh jolt of uncertainty just a day after the Supreme Court ruled much of his international tariffs campaign illegal.
The EU and United States last year struck an agreement setting US tariffs at a maximum 15 percent on most European goods.
“EU products must continue to benefit from the most competitive treatment, with no increases in tariffs beyond the clear and all-inclusive ceiling previously agreed,” the commission said.
It warned that “when applied unpredictably, tariffs are inherently disruptive, undermining confidence and stability across global markets and creating further uncertainty across international supply chains”.
– Seeking clarification –
The EU executive said it remained “in close and continuous contact” with Trump’s administration and that EU Trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic had spoken with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Saturday.
Greer told US broadcaster CBS on Sunday that Washington’s deals with the European Union, China and other partners remained in force despite the Supreme Court ruling.
“So we’re having active conversations with them. We want them to understand that these deals are going to be good deals,” he told the “Face the Nation” programme.
He added: “We expect to stand by them. We expect our partners to stand by them.”
But European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde told the same show she was not sure what the consequences of the US court decision were.
“I hope it’s going to be clarified,” she added.
The European Parliament’s trade committee had been due to approve the EU-US deal on Tuesday — but the Supreme Court judgment casts doubt on that now happening.
– US ‘tariff chaos’ –
The committee’s head, Bernd Lange, said he would call during a meeting of parliament’s political groups on Monday for putting “legislative work on hold until we have a proper legal assessment and clear commitments from the US side”.
“Pure tariff chaos from the US administration. No one can make sense of it anymore — only open questions and growing uncertainty for the EU and other US trading partners,” Lange wrote.
“Clarity and legal certainty are needed before any further steps are taken,” he added.
Analysts at ING bank wrote Sunday that even if Trump’s new tariffs might be legally challenged, they could just be “smoke and mirrors” to buy time for another tariff option.
That could be tariffs on the basis of unfair trade practices or trade agreements violations, for example, they wrote.
“It now remains unclear whether the (European) Parliament will push for a full renegotiation of the deal,” ING added.
Even if they did however, the US could still use other tariffs “to pressure the EU to return to the negotiating table”.
The Supreme Court ruling was a stunning rebuke to Trump from a judicial body that has largely sided with him since his return to office.
It marked a major political setback in striking down Trump’s signature economic policy that has roiled the global trade order.
Several countries have said they are studying the Supreme Court ruling and Trump’s subsequent tariff announcements.
