Duties, the US accuses Europe: slow, Italian and French -divided progress

It seems to have returned to the time of Henry Kissinger When he asked: « What number do I have to call to talk to Europe? »to highlight that Europe does not exist, but there are only individual states with their national interests that are difficult to reconcile. After the lump of Trump on MondayYesterday was the United States Treasury Secretary who criticized the European Union, stating that he suffers from a « collective action problem » that hinders commercial negotiations with Washington.

During the US-Saudi Arabia investment forum in Riad, Bessent underlined the difficulties of the EU in presenting itself as a cohesive interlocutorhighlighting that the differences between Member States represent an obstacle to effective negotiations. «I think the United States and Europe could proceed a little more slowly. My personal opinion is that Europe can have a problem of collective action; Italians want something different from the French. But I am sure that in the end we will reach a satisfactory conclusion, « said Bessent, according to what is reported by Bloomberg.

The observation comes at a time when The United States are negotiating commercial agreements with the various partners to avoid the entry into force of mutual duties Announced by Trump on April 2, equal to 20% for Europe, and then lowered to 10% for all countries for 90 days, with the exception of China. To the basic rate, Trump also added a 25% sampling on imports of steel, aluminum and cars, crucial sectors for the European economy, strongly oriented towards exports.

In 2024, the EU recorded a Commercial surplus of goods with the United States equal to 235.6 billion dollars, according to the data of the office of the representative for the trade of the United States (Ustr), while the data on the services is not yet available. But in 2023 the US had a surplus with the EU in the service of services of about 117 billion dollars. Germany, a great exporting country, is particularly sensitive to the theme. And yesterday the new chancellor Friedrich Merz intervened to underline the importance of a unitary approach by the EU in the negotiations with Washington. Europe « cannot be divided on trade » and that the United States must negotiate with the entire union. Revealing the content of a conversation he had last week with the American president, Merz then offered to act as an intermediary « personally » with Trumpin a meeting « in the near future ». With two objectives: « Reduce the rates as much as possible, ideally to zero, but at the same time discuss with the Americans if it is possible to achieve a better and gradual mutual recognition of the technical standards ».

In front of the alleged difficulty in the negotiation with the EU, defined by Trump « in many ways more bad than China » After The commercial armistice of Geneva with BeijingBessent was more optimistic about agreements with Asian commercial partners. He explained that the United States had « very productive discussions » with Japan and anticipated « very imminent conversations » with Indonesia and a « very good proposal » from Taiwan. In addition, he mentioned the talks with South Korea and Thailand.

Then the Treasury Secretary returned to the Swiss agreement, which reduced American duties to Chinese imports from 145 to 30% and Chinese customs taxes on assets from the United States to 10% for 90 days. “We had a plan, we had a process. After this weekend, with the Chinese we have a mechanism to avoid an escalation like the one we had before « he said. After the truce, the first signs of relaxation arrive. Yesterday China removed, after a month, the ban on Chinese companies to receive Jet Boeing deliveries and released the first permits for exporting magnets to rare lands. For its part, the Trump administration has canceled the new export restrictions of semiconductors used for the development of artificial intelligence that would have particularly penalized China.