European capitals have commented on the newly reached framework trade agreement between the European Union and the United States, which sets the tariff level on European imports to the US at 15%.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz gave a positive assessment of the agreement, emphasizing that it helped avoid a large-scale trade war that could have seriously harmed Germany’s export-oriented economy.
“We managed to protect our core interests. Stable and predictable trade relations with market access are beneficial to all parties on both sides of the Atlantic,” he stated on social media platform X.
Meanwhile, Paris expressed concern about the balance of the new agreement. France’s Minister for European Affairs, Benjamin Haddad, described the deal as “temporarily stabilizing,” but stressed that it is unbalanced and does not fully consider the interests of European manufacturers.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, in her initial comment, welcomed the fact that an agreement was reached but voiced reservations about its details. Later, in a joint statement with her deputy prime ministers, she emphasized that Italy supports the agreement but expects additional support from the European Commission for sectors that may be negatively affected by the tariff increase.
Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin called the agreement “good news for businesses, consumers, and investors,” but acknowledged that the tariff increase will complicate trade with the US.
As a reminder, on July 27, after months of negotiations in Thornbury (Scotland), the US and EU announced the conclusion of a framework trade agreement. The document establishes a fixed tariff of 15% on European imports to the US, which helped avoid the introduction of 30% American duties previously warned about by Washington.