Image Credit: Andrew Harnik / Staff / Getty 
The hole that Ursula von der Leyen dug, dragging the whole EU with her, may have just gotten a lot deeper.
After the EU Commission president admitted that she can’t “guarantee” to fulfill her promise to invest $600 billion in the U.S. as part of the recent U.S.-EU trade deal—outlining a 15% flat rate tariff for most EU exports, which is already seen as disastrous for Europe’s economy—Trump hit back by threatening to raise the tariffs to 35%, even higher than the initial plans that sent the whole continent into crisis mode.
“Well, then they pay tariffs of 35%,” Trump told journalists on Tuesday, when asked about what happens if the EU fails to uphold its side of the deal.
During the infamous trade talks in Scotland at the end of last month, Trump agreed to slash his initially planned 30% tariff rate to half in exchange for von der Leyen’s pledging that the EU will buy at least $750 billion worth of American energy just in the next three years, as well as directly invest another $600 billion in the U.S. infrastructure.
“And because of that, I reduced their tariffs from 30% down to 15%,” Trump said. “And a couple of countries came: ‘How come [the] EU is paying less than us?’ And I said, well, because they gave me $600 billion. And that’s a gift; that’s not like, you know, a loan, by the way.”
However, as EU leaders across the bloc began slamming von der Leyen for her “betrayal.” It quickly became clear that the outrage was unlike anything we’ve seen before, uniting everyone regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum.
Governments not only criticized the Commission chief for agreeing to the 15% tariff rate, but also for the other two pledges she made in their name, practically without anyone’s consent.
It took less than a day for von der Leyen to read the room and begin to softly backtrack on the investment promise, saying that the money would have to come from private companies, so “it’s not something that the EU as a public authority can guarantee.”
But looking over at Washington, it’s clear that Trump doesn’t care what Brussels can or can’t guarantee. From his perspective, von der Leyen made a desperate bargain, and she has to fulfill her pledge one way or another, or suffer the consequences.
“They gave us $600 billion that we can invest in anything we want,” Trump added. “And the purpose was, they’ve been ripping us for so many years that it’s time that they pay up, and they have to pay up. We couldn’t afford to have the deficits.”
Facing the unanimous outrage from member states, the Commission insists that the deal was “the best possible agreement under the circumstances.”
However, everyone in Europe knows that those circumstances were created by von der Leyen herself by not engaging with Trump in a serious and constructive way from day one, but rather letting their political differences fuel her arrogance toward Washington. Now, Europe, but especially von der Leyen, is getting entangled ever deeper in this disastrous deal.
There’s a slight chance for revisions as the “fine print” hasn’t really been agreed on, but the 15% tariffs are set to be imposed in two days, on August 8th. Now, Brussels is racing against time to salvage whatever it can, trying to save both the EU economy and its reputation.
