The Spanish socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said Monday, July 28 that “(argued)” the trade agreement concluded the day before by the United States and the EU, but “without any enthusiasm.”
“I appreciate the constructive attitude (…) that had the president of the European Commission”, Ursula von der Leyen, who negotiated this agreement with US President Donald Trump, and “support this commercial agreement, but I do it without enthusiasm,” said the head of the Spanish government at a press conference in Madrid.
The US President and the president of the European Commission announced on Sunday in Scotland an customs agreement that states that European products exported to the United States are taxed to 15%.
The EU also undertakes to carry out $ 750 billion in energy purchases, especially aimed at replacing Russian gas, and 600 billion additional investments in the United States, Europeans who hope to avoid commercial escalation at this very high price.
The only sector reaction recorded at this stage in Spain was that of the Spanish Food and Beverage Federation (FIAB), which estimated that the taxes of customs tariffs of 15% in European products exported to the United States “ends the balance of free exchange.”
“An agreement is better than an open commercial war, but we do not give up exports of our products to the United States to be penalized by 15%prices,” continues the FIAB, which says it represents more than 18,000 exporting companies.
The food industry sector is one of those that will be most affected in Spain for the taxes of this rate of 15%.
France disappointed by the commercial agreement
For his part, François Bayrou denounced the commercial agreement approved by Ursula von der Leyen with Donald Trump, believing that, according to this agreement, the European Union that “is resolved to the presentation” against the United States.
“This agreement should not be the end of the story, in which case we would simply have weakened,” said French minister’s delegate for foreign trade Laurent Saint-Martin in France Inter. “Now there will be technical negotiations” and “we can take advantage of this sequence to strengthen ourselves,” he added.
In Paris, if we admit that this agreement will bring “stability” to companies, we insist above all in its “unbalanced” character, in the terms used by several members of the government.
“Our responsibility today is to ensure that this agreement, ultimately, is as unbalanced as possible,” said French Industry and Energy Minister Marc Ferracci in RTL.
Source: BFM TV
