Trump hails EU trade deal while European leaders call it ‘submission’

On Monday, President Donald Trump defended the latest commercial deal with the European Union as a “very large trade deal”, but his enthusiasm for the agreement does not seem to be shared by European leaders, as some describe the agreement as “presentation”.

Trade between the United States and Europe represents nearly a third of all trade worldwide, but uncertainty remains on how to announce the agreement on Sunday – which will witness a 15 % tariff for almost all European Union goods sold in the United States – not only affecting European Union companies but American consumers.

“We have just signed a very large trade deal, and the largest of them all,” Trump said, sitting alongside British Prime Minister Kiir Starmer in Scotland on Monday.

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The United Kingdom, which is no longer part of the European Union, is expected to cancel its commercial arrangements with Trump on Monday after obtaining a wide agreement last month.

However, despite Trump’s approval of the European Union deal, which some have praised as a victory for the American president, he criticized some European leaders.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayro wrote on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who represents the second largest economy in the European Union, has not commented publicly.

The general tone was subjected to the deal on Monday, as many prominent officials described it as the least bad options that the European Union was staring at.

“This is clear that this is the best deal that we can face under very difficult circumstances,” said European Union Trade Commissioner Marus Sevkovic.

Sefcovic, the highest commercial representative of the European Commission, pointed out that the 30 % customs tariff that Trump threatened had proven “much worse” for the mass.

Other European Union leaders indicated that at least the deal has set a form of clarity when dealing with the first trade partner in the first country.

“We do not celebrate this exactly – it is not a situation that this is a good thing, but perhaps the less bad option is based on what we were facing two days ago, which is a 30 % tariff,” Irish State Minister Neil Richmond said in an interview with BBC. “This is not like any commercial deal I had previously faced, in the fifteen years of individual work in the commercial deals of the European Union. This is what it is and we advance.

President Donald Trump, right, and Irish Tawish Michel Martin talk to journalists before meetings at the White House in the White House on March 12, 2025 in Washington, DC (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images / Getty Images)

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“We do not want a tariff war, a bad tariff. We want to settle for companies, and we have that day,” he added.

Swedish Minister of Trade Benjamin Dosa described the deal as a “less bad alternative”, while Spain has shown more enthusiasm, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he supported the deal, but “without any enthusiasm.”

While German Chancellor Friedrich Mirz, the leader of the European Union’s largest economy, has taken a little more pragmatic approach and said: “This agreement has succeeded in avoiding the trade conflict that would have reached the German economy directed towards export.”

While American consumers are expected to clarify the growing cost bill to a large extent, the American markets can benefit from the deal, especially car makers, as the European Union has agreed to drop the customs tariffs on American vehicles from 10 % to 2.5 %, while a 15 % tariff will be implemented on all imported European Union cars.

The European Union also agreed to invest in US energy in a step to further move away from Russian oil in the war in Ukraine – a move that the bloc has already taken largely because it imported only 1 % of its oil needs from Russia in the first quarter of 2025, a decrease of 30 % in 2021 before the invasion.

Employees are working on the Yaris Cross cars collection line at the Toyota Motor Motor Motor France Factory in OnNAING near Valenciennes, France, on April 4, 2024. (Benoit Tesseh / Reuters)

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“We will replace Russian gas and oil with large purchases of LNG [liquified natural gas]”Oil fuel and nuclear fuel,” said European Union President Ursula von der Lin on Sunday.

According to Trump, the European Union will purchase $ 750 billion in US energy and increase its investments in the United States by $ 600 billion.