The agreement on a framework deal between the EU and the US, establishing a 15% base import tariff on most European goods and aiming to prevent a transatlantic trade war between the two allies, received mixed reactions across EU member states, Report informs.
Opinions ranged from welcoming remarks and sighs of relief to claims that the EU had essentially submitted to the will of President Donald Trump.
“It is a dark day when an alliance of free nations, united to uphold their shared values and defend their common interests, succumbs to submission,” said French Prime Minister François Bayrou in describing the situation.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sharply criticized the agreement in his usual style, saying it was not a true deal: “The US got everything it wanted,” he stated.
Other leaders offered different perspectives. Spanish and Italian Prime Ministers Pedro Sánchez and Giorgia Meloni, respectively, both described reaching the agreement as a positive development. However, they noted that a more precise assessment would be difficult until the full details are known.
A similar comment regarding predictability came from Romanian Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo observed that the most valuable outcome of the agreement was predictability, but stressed that efforts to remove trade barriers must continue. “Only free transatlantic trade benefits both sides most significantly,” he believes.
“This agreement helped avert a trade conflict that would have severely impacted Germany’s export-oriented economy—especially its automotive sector, where current tariffs of 27.5% will be nearly halved to 15%,” declared German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.