The Commission warns that “the agreement reached is not legally binding”, and in the meantime in the summary declarations published by Brussels and Washington there are points of contrast.
The announcement of Sunday relative to the commercial agreement reached between European Union And United States It seems to be more a starting point than a point of arrival. Putting the political judgments aside, between yesterday and today Washington and Brussels have published their respective Summary statementsand numerous questions arise.
The first of which is to understand if i duties of 15% agreed in Scotland, add to those already existing on a specific sector or if they simply replace them. From the published texts it does not seem clear, for Europe the new Massimo general roof seems to be the one negotiated by 15%, except for precise exceptions, while the American note flies completely on the subject.
Another problem is the relative one the implementation of the agreement itselffor which, however, the European Commission has spread a note in which he says: “The political agreement of 27 July 2025 is not legally binding. In addition to taking the immediate actions committed, The EU and the US will grasp further, in line with the respective internal procedures, to fully implement the political agreement».
For the commission that of Sunday is therefore a “agreement-quadro”, a general understanding that must be filled before entering into force. But let’s go back to summary statements. Comparing the two texts, It is clear that there are some discrepancies in the interpretations that EU and USA give the agreement achieved on July 27 in Scotland. We start from the topic of the web tax, the tax hypothesis for network service providers such as Meta, Google and Amazon.
Web tax
According to the press release released by White house“The United States and the European Union intend to face unjustified digital commercial barriers. In this regard, The European Union confirms that it will not adopt nor will maintain rates of use of the network». Net words, which definitively close the door to the European proposal to tax the American big tech for the use of infrastructure and the European market. However, this commitment is completely absent in the note published by Brussels.
Pharmaceutical and semiconductors
The EU makes it known that “the maximum limit of 15% will also apply to any future duties on pharmaceutical products and semiconductors. Until the United States decide if imposing additional duties on these products, they will remain subjects only to normal US duties “, and not at the 15% rate established in Scotland. For the United States, however, the duties negotiated on Sunday will also be applied to these productsand is also given to acquire the increase of 50% on the European copper.
Steel and aluminum
Moving on to the European steel, the text released by Brussels states that “The European Union and the United States will establish tariff contingents for EU exports to historical levels, reducing current rates of 50% And jointly guaranteeing an equitable global competition », translated it would mean that EU and USA will establish an export mechanism to reduced rates, beyond which European steel exports will suffer from 50%duties.
However, this commitment is completely absent for the White House, according to which: «Le Sectist rates on steel, aluminum and copper will remain unchanged: The EU will continue to pay 50% and the parties will discuss the safety of the supply chains for these products ».
American weapons
Finally, if the commitment to buy 750 billion of American energy in the next 3 years has been confirmed by both sides, there is no clarity regarding the purchases of US armaments for an uninsed value with certainty, but by Trump identified in “hundreds of billions”. For Brussels this commitment does not fall into the Scottish agreement, while the White House includes it inside.
The sectors exempt
The text spread by the Commission reads that «starting from 1 August 2025, US duties on EU aeronautical aircraft and components, on certain chemicals, on some generic drugs and natural resources will return to previous levels in January. This will guarantee an immediate lightening of the duties for the key industries of the EU, while the EU and the United States have agreed to continue working to add other products to this list “. At the moment, therefore, these are the only sectors safe from the dark American daziaria.
