Customs duties: US-EU agreement provides "temporary stability" but is "unbalanced," says French Minister for Europe

The trade agreement between the United States and the EU, which sets US customs duties on European products at 15%, brings "temporary stability" but remains "unbalanced" , the Minister Delegate for Europe, Benjamin Haddad, regretted on Monday, July 28.

"The trade agreement negotiated by the European Commission with the United States will bring temporary stability to economic players threatened by the American customs escalation, but it is unbalanced," wrote Benjamin Haddad on X, who warned of the risk of Europeans "falling away" if they "do not wake up."

Mr. Haddad welcomed the fact that the agreement exempts "key sectors for the French economy [aeronautics, spirits, medicines] " , excludes "any concession for [the] sensitive agricultural sectors" and "preserves [the] European regulations on subjects such as digital or health" .

"But let's be clear: the current situation is not satisfactory and cannot be sustainable," the minister said, noting that the United States "is choosing economic coercion and complete disregard for the rules of the World Trade Organization." "We must quickly draw the necessary conclusions or risk being wiped out," he wrote, warning: "If Europeans don't wake up, the difficulties of others will seem all relative in the face of our own decline."

The United States and the European Union (EU) have reached a trade agreement that includes 15% tariffs on European exports, President Donald Trump announced on Sunday, July 27, following a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry, Scotland.

The EU has committed to $750 billion (€638 billion) in energy purchases over three years and to investing an additional $600 billion in the United States, according to the American president, who spoke with the European leader for an hour. The Republican president described this agreement as the "biggest" ever concluded in terms of trade, and saw it as a promise of "unity and friendship" . The head of the European executive, for her part, welcomed a "good agreement" which will bring "stability".