Might is right
Experts judge the EU customs deal with the US to be ‘catastrophic’ for Europe’s economy as it is rapidly shackled to the US. The Trump administration is now weighing sanctions on EU officials.
WASHINGTON/BRUSSELS (own report) – The Trump administration is weighing sanctions on European Union and member state officials responsible for implementing EU rules for online platforms. Reports indicate that measures such as visa restrictions are under consideration. The background to this potential move is that American internet companies object to the requirement in the EU to remove openly discriminatory, Nazi-glorifying or otherwise inflammatory content from social media. The regulatory burden applies under the Digital Services Act. The extraordinary idea of penal sanctions comes in the wake of Washington’s success in customs negotiations with the EU. The Trump administration has forced the European Commission to accept an agreement that experts consider “catastrophic” for the European economy. In future, customs duties of 15 per cent will be levied on imports from the EU to the US, while deliveries of goods and services from the US to the EU will be duty-free. Washington is also pushing for trade measures that will make the EU openly dependent on the US for key raw materials. Making its economic situation even direr, the EU is set to massively reduce its trade with China, thus becoming shackled to the US with no other options.
‘A catastrophic agreement’
The customs deal negotiated by the European Commission under its President Ursula von der Leyen with President Donald Trump’s administration has met with growing criticism both in Brussels and in the member states. Bernd Lange (SPD), who chairs the European Parliament’s Trade Committee, says that there is “no question” of the deal being a “balanced and fair agreement” as the Commission has chosen to designate it. Rather, the arrangement “cements” the principle of “might is right” under which the United States is clearly dominant.[1] French MEP Marie-Pierre Vedrenne from the liberal ‘Renew’ parliamentary grouping is quoted as saying that the current deal “will not even bring the hoped-for stability” as claimed by the Commission.[2] Italian MEP Brando Benifei, a social democrat, explains that the ‘Joint statement on a United States-European Union framework on an agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade’ is in fact “completely unfair”. While the EU is “making its market wide open” to US companies, Washington has refused to offer anything in return. Niclas Poitiers, an economic expert at the Brussels-based think-tank Bruegel, considers the outcome “a catastrophic trade agreement” that can only be justified by certain geostrategic considerations – namely the EU’s military dependence on the US.[3]
Broken promises
Resentment is not only caused by the fact that around two-thirds of all EU good and services exported to the US are subject to tariffs of at least 15 per cent while US exports to the EU are to be completely tariff-free. In addition, the Trump administration has already broken several promises it made at the end of July. Contrary to initial assurances, US tariffs on cars from the EU, which currently stand at 27.5 per cent, will not be reduced immediately but only after the formal EU decision on the complete removal of tariffs on EU imports from the US. In mid-August Washington also unilaterally extended the imposition of its 50 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium imports to more than 400 products. Motorcycles, for example, were subject to a 2.5 per cent tariff when shipped to the United States at the beginning of the year but now face not only a 15 per cent tariff but also a 50 per cent tariff on their steel and aluminium content.[4] The European Commission had already caved in not only to US internet companies by agreeing not to levy any network usage fees; it had also promised US companies “flexibility” in their obligation to comply with the EU’s social and environmental standards.[5]
Dependent on Trump (I)
While the one-sided tariff regulations hugely favour the United States, the European Commission’s concessions on raw materials sourcing are likely to make the Europe directly dependent on US suppliers. This applies in particular to the Commission’s commitment to import energy worth 750 billion US dollars from the US by 2028.[6] The statement on reciprocal trade is declared legally as a non-binding ‘intention’, and indeed it is factually nonsensical, since, the Commission has no powers to order private energy companies to conclude specific contracts and, moreover, US industry is not even in a position to provide the enormous volume of energy sources required for export. However, the Trump administration will at least demand an expansion of EU imports of US liquefied natural gas (LNG). Last year, the EU already sourced a good 45 per cent of its total liquefied natural gas from the US.[7] Commission President von der Leyen has promised to replace all gas imports from Russia with American LNG. In 2024, around 19 per cent of EU natural gas imports – LNG shipments plus pipeline gas – came from Russia.[8] If this share falls entirely to the US, EU countries will find themselves completely dependent on the Trump administration.
Dependent on Trump (II)
A similar dependency on the US is also threatened in the medium to long term with regard to rare earths. China currently has a virtual monopoly on these vital raw materials. Beijing is currently using its strength in an economic war with the United States, hoping to slow down the unchecked escalation of US attacks.[9] The Trump administration has therefore begun to promote the extraction and – significantly more complex – processing of rare earths in its own country. This is why the Pentagon is acquiring a 15 per cent stake in MP Materials, a company that mines rare earths at the Mountain Pass mine in California and is beginning to develop processing techniques.[10] The Pentagon is also supporting MP Materials by guaranteeing a minimum price of $110 per kilogram for certain rare earths (neodymium, praseodymium) over ten years. This is twice as much as MP Materials currently charges. In addition, the government is guaranteeing buyers for the valuable raw materials. So it was reported back in July that Washington was urging companies in Europe to order rare earths from MP Materials – effectively meaning that Europe will be co-financing a US mining company. The current customs deal explicitly provides for joint efforts to become independent of critical raw materials from third countries – meaning China.[11] However, this will only bind the EU even more closely to the US.
No alternative
Washington is also pushing Europe into greater dependency by obliging the EU, under the new customs agreement, to apply investment and export controls vis-à-vis third countries – meaning, of course, primarily measures against China.[12] Italy’s far-right government under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a particularly close Trump ally, is currently advancing this agenda. Rome once welcomed investment from China, especially after the 2008 financial crisis when Italy was looking for ways to strengthen its faltering industry. But Meloni is now seeking to push China out of the country. One example is the tyre manufacturer Pirelli, a traditional Italian company in which the Chinese state-owned company Sinochem holds a 37 per cent stake. With the Trump administration threatening sales restrictions on the US market, Meloni is looking for ways to force Sinochem to sell its stake in Pirelli.[13] In the meantime, she has succeeded in reducing Shanghai Electric’s stake in Ansaldo Energia, a major power plant operator, from 40 per cent to just 0.5 per cent. But even this level of ownership is still considered unacceptable by Washington, according to reports.[14] The Trump administration would like to see the entire EU take anti-China trade measures. If the EU follows this path it will mean that, after its complete economic separation from Russia, Europe will lose its last real alternative to transatlantic business.
Sanctions
According to reports from the US, the Trump administration has correctly interpreted the EU Commission’s comprehensive capitulation as weakness and is now preparing its next strike. Voices in the administration are arguing for sanctions to be imposed on EU and member state officials responsible for implementing the rules of the Digital Services Act. US tech companies oppose EU regulations governing their online platforms. They regard such oversight as an unwarranted burden. The legislation requires them, among other things, to remove, within the EU region, openly discriminatory, Nazi-glorifying and otherwise inflammatory content from social media. The Trump administration, has always been highly critical of the Digital Services Act. It is now looking to up the ante by actually imposing sanctions on individual government officials, as the Reuters news agency reported yesterday (Monday).[15] This move would take Washington’s attempt to get the EU to fully align with American interests to the next level.
More on this topic: Im Interesse der deutschen Kfz-Industrie.
[1] “Von fairem Deal kann keine Rede sein.” bernd-lange.de 21.08.2025.
[2], [3] Cédric Vallet: Droits de douane : les Etats-Unis et l’Union Européenne finalisent leur nouveau cadre commercial. lemonde.fr 22.08.2025.
[4] Lazar Backovic, Jakob Hanke Vela, Franz Hubik: Null-Zölle für US-Waren – Europas riskanter Deal mit Trump. handelsblatt.com 23.08.2025.
[5], [6] Joint Statement on a United States – European Union framework on an agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade. policy.trade.ec.europa.eu 21.08.2025.
[7] Anne-Sophie Corbeau: Bridging the EU-US Trade Gap with US LNG Is More Complex than It Sounds. energypolicy.columbia.edu 20.02.2025.
[8] EU gibt mehr für russisches Flüssigerdgas aus. tagesschau.de 19.08.2025.
[9] See: “Maximal konfrontativ”.
[10] Roland Lindner, Gustav Theile: Trump will „Champion” für Seltene Erden. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 17.07.2025.
[11], [12] Joint Statement on a United States – European Union framework on an agreement on reciprocal, fair and balanced trade. policy.trade.ec.europa.eu 21.08.2025.
[13], [14] Meloni drängt chinesische Investoren zum Rückzug. handelsblatt.com 12.08.2025.
[15] Humeyra Pamuk: Exclusive: Trump administration weighs sanctions on officials implementing EU tech law, sources say. reuters.com 25.08.2025.
