By Antonia Zimmermann Ari Hawkins
鈥淭he Commission has so far 鈥 fortunately 鈥 pushed back against the most immediate German instincts,鈥 Kleimann said.
鈥淎t the same time, the Commission now appears to be willing to accept an agreement 鈥 with a landing zone involving sectoral carve-outs from a 10 percent U.S. baseline tariff 鈥 that would 鈥 erode fundamental principles of the rules-based trading system and undermine EU strategic autonomy.鈥
Symmetry in asymmetry
At the other end of the spectrum are Paris and Madrid, which want to resist the U.S. president鈥檚 roughhouse negotiating tactics, according to two EU diplomats who were granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door trade talks.
At last week鈥檚 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron 鈥 who has been pushing for weeks for Trump to remove all tariffs 鈥 initially argued against rushing to accept an 鈥渁symmetrical鈥 agreement just to meet Trump鈥檚 deadline. At the end of the meeting, however, he indicated he might be willing to accept a 10 percent tariff under certain conditions.
鈥淚t would be best to have the lowest tariff possible, zero percent is the best. But if it鈥檚 10 percent, it鈥檒l be 10 percent,鈥 he said. 鈥淚f the American choice falls on 10 percent, there will be a compensation on goods sold by the United States. The levy will result in the same levy on U.S. goods.鈥
Spain鈥檚 Prime Minister Pedro S谩nchez, meanwhile, has tasted Trump鈥檚 anger: The U.S. president threatened new tariffs against Madrid last week after S谩nchez refused to increase defense spending in line with other allies at a NATO summit 鈥 even though that wouldn鈥檛 be doable as the EU鈥檚 members operate as a trade bloc.