“It’s a gift, not a loan. There is nothing to refund.” Questioned Tuesday about CNBC, Donald Trump welcomed the European Union commitment to invest $ 600 billion in the United States for three years in the context of the commercial agreement completed at the end of July and also provides the purchase of $ 750 billion in US energy. In “counterpart”, the US president agreed to reduce his customs duties to 15% instead of 30.
Only here, this agreement is not at this stage “not legally binding”, the European Commission underlines in place. And the 600 billion announced actually represent a demonstration of interest of European companies that plan to invest this amount in several sectors throughout the Atlantic by 2029.
Therefore, the realization of this commitment is still uncertain. What would happen if the EU did not make the promised investments? “Then they will pay 35%of customs tasks,” said Donald Trump. Before sweeping this possibility: “No, no. They left their customs duties. Therefore, they paid $ 600 billion and, thanks to this, I reduced their customs duties from 30 to 15%.”
The EU suspends its retaliation measures
Since the signing of the commercial agreement at the end of July, a second phase of negotiations between Brussels and Washington was opened to agree on certain points that remain to be clarified, such as the fate reserved for the spirits.
The EU also announced on Tuesday, August 5 to suspend its reprisals for the customs duties of Donald Trump. In recent months, the commission had prepared a list of American products that would be taxed if the United States and the EU did not reach an agreement. This list included 93 billion euros in goods: soybeans, airplanes, cars, etc.
Source: BFM TV
