It could be a Sunday of summer, on July 27, to mark the turning point in commercial relations between Washington and Brussels. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, heard the US president, Donald Trump during the day, agreeing on a meeting in Scotland. It will be the first official bilateral between the two leaders, who try to speed up the times to ward off the heavy rates that – according to what has been declared in recent weeks by the Tycoon – could start on August 1st.
The meeting in Scotland
Why a meeting in Scotland? Trump had long planned the journey to the United Kingdom, where he met with the British premier Keir Starmer. But his arrival in the Old Continent, however, offered the opportunity of a bilateral interview with the leader of the European Executive. Von der Leyen gave the news of the meeting. “After a good phone call with the President of the United States, we decided to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic commercial relations and how we can keep them strong,” he wrote on X. From the Berlaymont palace explained that the meeting takes place on Trump’s “invitation”.
The agreement on the duties: it will probably arrive at a rate of 15 percent
Von der Leyen and Trump will obviously talk about commercial relations and many expect that they will abuse an agreement that establishes a basic duty for European products at 15 percent, as anticipated by journalistic rumors. Silence reigns on the details of the agreement. Mouth also sewn from the head of the White House which, before departure towards the United Kingdom, said that there is “a 50-50, perhaps even less, of the possibility of reaching a commercial agreement with the European Union”.
At the meeting of the EU Ambassadors on Wednesday, the European Commission had put the last proposal on the table, the one that seems to have a chance to be accepted by both sides: a generalized duty on European goods that enter the United States of 15 percent, which however also includes current duties which are an average of 4.8 percent. It would be a sort of freezing of current 10%. 15 percent would also be worth cars and components (now at 27.5 percent) and there would be exemptions for some sectors, such as planes, alcohol and pharmaceutical.
United States and European Union close to an agreement of 15 percent on duties
However, the EU has developed in case the commercial interviews do not go as hoped. The 27 gave the go -ahead to a package of counter -fans for a total of 93 billion euros that remain suspended until August 7 but which would possibly enter into force in Scaglioni, between August, September and February. On a Sunday in late July, in the country that chose to leave the European Union, the hope of a commercial agreement between the two banks of the Atlantic returns concrete.
