Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) blasted the trade deal negotiated between the United States and the European Union over the weekend, calling it “fake.”
The trade deal sets tariffs on European goods at 15 percent, half the rate that Trump had previously threatened on the continent. In exchange, the EU has pledged to buy $750 billion in American energy over the next three years.
“Trump would have you believe it’s the biggest deal ever,” Schumer complained. “Europe has admitted that this agreement isn’t legally binding, and they have no control over whether these investments even happen.”
While Europe is presumably avoiding a trade war with the U.S., several leading figures condemned the deal. French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou called Sunday a “dark day” in a post on X.
Schumer compared the agreement to Trump’s deal with Japan, where the U.S. has imposed a 15 percent tariff in exchange for $550 billion in Japanese investments in American sectors. It is not clear what those exact investments would entail.
The deal with Europe was reached days before Trump’s postured deadline of Aug. 1, when his threatened levies are generally scheduled to take place. American trade representatives have fanned across the globe to attempt to make deals with countries as the president has continued dialing tariffs up and down.
Schumer was also among the Democratic senators who sent a letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick Monday criticizing the administration’s reversal on allowing certain high-powered computer chips to be sold to China.
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