An EU trade delegation led by trade commissioner Maroš Šefčovič has expressed willingness to do deals and offer trade concessions to US president Donald Trump in a bid to avoid costly tariffs on EU exports.
Šefčovič told reporters yesterday (19 February) he is a “true believer in the transatlantic relationship” and the bloc is “ready to discuss” existing tariff rates.
The conciliatory tone stands in sharp contrast to a statement from the four largest parties in the European Parliament yesterday, which questioned its relationship with the US following Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia between the US and Russia on Tuesday, to which neither the bloc nor Ukraine were invited.
The statement – which was signed by the centre-right European People’s Party, the centre-left Socialists & Democrats, the liberal Renew and the Greens – said that, given the “new geopolitical reality”:
“Europe can no longer rely fully on the US to defend our shared values and interests, including continued support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The four parties are seen as the centre-ground in the European parliament, and largely voted to approve European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s re-election bid and college of commissioners.
Tariff talks
Divergence on Ukraine and Russia comes as Šefčovič aims to starts trade talks in Washington DC, according to comments made at an American Enterprise Institute event in the capital.
“I will be making this point to my American counterparts when I meet them later today,” he said, stating that “the EU is interested in making deals – deals that foster fairness, burden-sharing and mutual benefits”.
Auto tariff rates are also likely to be discussed, following Trump’s announcement last week of an investigation into other nations’ tariff rates, with reciprocal tariffs set to be introduced in April to match what other countries charge.
Currently, the US only imposes a 2.5% tariff on cars, whereas the EU sets a 10% rate. Politico reports that this would hit Germany’s carmakers especially hard, with BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen accounting for 73% of all cars exported to the US in 2024.
Šefčovič added that auto rates were also on the table, saying:
"So if we are going to talk about lowering the tariffs, even eliminating the tariffs, let's say for industrial products, this will be something which we are ready to discuss.”
Trump threats
Trump has repeatedly warned that he will introduce tariffs on the EU.
Earlier this month, he said that the EU tariffs will “definitely happen” and cited the US trade deficit with the bloc as justification:
“They don't take our cars, they don't take our farm products, they take almost nothing and we take everything from them.”
High time for Europe?
The statement also outlined the bloc’s intentions to bolster its security and defence measures, calling it “high time for Europe to step up its own security” and that “together we must ensure that Ukraine is in the strongest possible military position when peace negotiations begin”.
The parties said they would take action alongside “NATO and likeminded non-EU allies” to invest in “more efficient and integrated European security and defence architecture”.
The groups also called for a new legal regime to enable the “confiscation of Russian-owned assets frozen by the EU”.
Ending with a vow to “stand with the people of Ukraine, and support its full independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity”, the statement also criticised the US-Russia peace talks:
“There can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine and the European Union at the table.”
Peace talks
The FT reports that US secretary of state Marco Rubio, part of the negotiating team in Riyadh, said the EU “is going to have to be at the table at some point, because they have sanctions as well that have been imposed” yesterday, suggesting that the bloc’s economic restrictions have become part of US-Russia negotiations.
His comments reference the bloc’s sixteenth sanctions package against Russia, unveiled yesterday, which target oil and aluminium exports.
Rubio suggested a swift normalisation of relations with Russia could be on the cards if a peace deal was signed, describing the talks as “lay[ing] the groundwork for future co-operation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities”.
Despite the EU parties’ joint statement, one EU official told the publication that there’s “deep concern” among the team responsible for the new package over how the bloc can “keep up economic pressure on Russia if the US delinks its sanctions from ours”.
Previous sanction packages have been coordinated with all G7 members to maximise their impact.
The new sanctions have been agreed by all 27 EU member states and are due to be formally adopted next week.
