A senior European lawmaker has sharply criticized a draft trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States, warning that it could undermine the bloc’s economic stability and job security.
Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, described the proposed framework, which includes a 15-percent tariff on all EU exports to the United States, as “unsatisfactory” and “significantly imbalanced.”
The tariff rate, he noted, would represent a fourfold increase over current average levels, while the EU would commit to zero tariffs on U.S. goods.
“This is a deal with a slant. Clearly, concessions have been made that are difficult to bear,” Lange said in a statement this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced this week they had reached a trade agreement under which the United States would impose a baseline tariff of 15 percent on EU goods.