Two researchers: Europe made a “good deal” with Donald Trump after all

According to researchers, the customs agreement signed by the EU and the United States in July is proving to be a success after all.

Director of the IEP of the Institute of European Politics at Bocconi University in Italy, economist Daniel Gros and economics researcher Niccolo Rotondi consider in their recent analysis that the EU in particular has benefited from the agreement and, at least according to current estimates, also from the tariffs themselves.

“The actual total tariff on US imports from the EU has actually fallen since the agreement and is now around six percent. Crucially, it is goods imported from the EU that now have one of the lowest tariffs. Only Mexico and Canada fare better, as most of their exports to the US remain duty-free. Other US allies pay much higher tariffs, up to 15 percent,” they write.

According to Gros and Rotondi, the EU’s market share of US imports has also recovered since July and is now close to its average in recent years.

“In reality, the US has not translated its verbal hostility towards the EU into concrete action on the trade front. The EU, despite its weakness and division, seems to have succeeded in difficult negotiations and secured the best possible outcome. It may not feel like a geopolitical victory, but the trade statistics suggest that it was a very good deal.”

Gros and Rotondi also refer to the German Wirtschaft Institute for researchaccording to which the EU produces more than half of all the US needs in even thousands of product groups. These include, for example, many industrial products that are essential to the running of the US economy.

Various experts have warned the president Donald Trump’s fickleness and feared that he might withdraw from the EU customs agreement and raise tariffs. So far this has not happened.