There is still talk of duties in this summer, after the postponement and freezing of August 1st. Now the United States return to the attack, with the usual hard tones we are used to. In fact, Donald Trump made known, during an interview with the CNBC, that if the European Union does not maintain the commitments made in the commercial intention with Washington, new customs rates will start. The measure proposed by Trump concerns a 35% imposition on certain goods from the European block.
During the interview, to the question about how to guarantee the respect of the intended by the Union, Trump initially responded by mentioning a sum of 650 billion dollars, subsequently correct to 600.
Fortunately, the comparison with the EU continues not only not only in terms of threats but also on the technical one, with the negotiators who work on an advanced draft of the cessation. Brussels, aware of the private nature of most of the promised investments, remarks the limits of a political guarantee on volumes which, also including energy, exceed one thousand billion euros.
In the same hours, Trump fired Erika Mcentarfer, head of the agency that processes employment data. The gesture, which arrived immediately after a report with falling figures, agitated the markets.
Pharmaceutical industry in the sights: duties up to 250%
The intention of reviewing commercial relations does not stop only in exchanges with Europe. Trump clarified that he wanted to apply specific rates also to a very strategic sector such as medicines. In fact he said:
Initially we will apply reduced duties on pharmaceutical products, but in a year, a year and a half to the maximum, they will rise to 150% and then 250% because we want pharmaceutical products to be produced in our country.
It is not a mystery that the US President wants to report production on the US territory, reducing dependence on abroad even in the health sector.
The EU is looking for the agreement with the USA, via the negotiations
Despite the hard statements by the American president, the EU continues to focus on diplomacy. Maros Sefcovic, European in charge of trade, confirmed that the comparison with Washington continues:
I am in contact with the secretary Lutnick and the ambassador Greer while we work to put the EU-USA agreement into practice in July, in all its elements.
The transatlantic pact holds hard: what does not work
The agreement reached between Brussels and Washington is very labile as we can see. Trump, as anticipated earlier, said that European commitments of 600 billion dollars serve “to do what we want”, justifying with this motivation the temporary reduction of rates to 15%. But he also launched the warning which, in the event of default, could return heavier duties, up to 35% on European products.
For its part, the European Commission has defined the current 15% threshold as a guarantee mechanism applicable to all sensitive sectors, but clarified that it will not accept further pressure.
Ursula von der Leyen has indicated that percentage as the limit beyond which countermeasures will start, ready but suspended for six months, pending formal ratification by the twenty -seven.
Trump dismisses the head of the labor statistics office
To throw petrol on the fire, the dismissal from Trump by Erika Mcentarfer, at the helm of the work statistics office, also arrives, which produces the data on the occupation. A move that arrived not by chance but immediately after a report that signaled a slowdown in hiring.
The president accused the entity of having spread manipulated figures and of no longer impartial. Accusations that triggered the alarm between economists and markets, already sensitive on the statistical transparency front.
The dismissal, in fact, has already had a first effect: the gold price has risen, a sign that many seek safer refuges. Trump has promised a new name to the helm of the agency, but the fear is that it is a political and comfortable choice.
