“A deal’s a deal and we have a deal”, European Commission President said this morning when asked if the tariff agreement she agreed with Donald Trump in Scotland last year is dead in the water.
On Friday night, the US President posted on social media that he would impose a new 25 percent tariffs on EU exports of cars and trucks to the US.
Under the deal struck between Trump and von der Leyen last summer, the US administration agreed to tariffs on EU exports of no higher than 15 percent across the board.
That was a huge relief to Ireland and calmed economic fears.
But if Trump reneges on the deal when it comes to cars, there are concerns that he could rip up the wider tariff deal.
“The essence of this deal is prosperity, common rules and reliability”, said von der Leyen this morning.
“Now we are both implementing this deal while respecting the different democratic procedures we have on both sides.
On the European Union side we are now in the final stages of implementing the remaining tariff commitments. At the same time, the US has the commitment, for example, where alignment with the agreed ceiling is still outstanding”, she added.
The European Commission’s Trade Spokesperson, Olof Gill, is on a visit to Dublin today.
Speaking to the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) a short time ago he said “it is the oldest cliche of them all that the European Union is more effective when it operates as a block…
There are frequent threats [from the US]. We are trying to deal with the reality”, he said.
Meanwhile Economy ministers from across the EU, include Ireland’s Minister of Finance, Simon Harris TD, are meeting in Brussels and it is inevitable that discussions on trade will come up.
In case the deal falls apart, the threat of a trade war between the EU and US could re-emerge.
“We are prepared for every scenario”, said von der Leyen.