By Nivedita Balu and Promit Mukherjee
TORONTO, March 5 (Reuters) – European Union Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic said on Thursday he believed the U.S. would respect the terms of the trade deal signed with the EU last year after receiving assurances from his American counterparts.
“I believe that the United States will honor the deal because this was the reassurance I got from my American partners,” he said.
President Donald Trump’s executive order from last month, after the Supreme Court struck down most of his global tariffs, imposed a 10% tariff on imports. But U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday that those rates would likely rise to 15% later this week.
Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen concluded a deal at Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland last July which set a broad 15% U.S. tariff for most EU exports.
However, unlike the tariff terms of the EU-U.S. trade deal, the new surcharge applies in addition to the most-favored-nation rate, meaning some EU exports could face higher tariffs than before.
Sefcovic’s remarks came in Toronto, Canada where he signed an agreement with Canada’s Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu to expand trade ties and ease trade rules under their existing pact as countries across the world strive to increase non-U.S. trade.
The agreement set new rules for settling investment disputes and also launched talks on a digital trade deal that would support data sharing, digital services, cybersecurity cooperation and emerging technologies.
Canada and Europe are both seeking to diversify away from the United States. The U.S. is Canada’s biggest trading partner and consumes almost 70% of its exports, making it particularly vulnerable to changes in U.S. trade policy.
The agreements aim to modernize and strengthen the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), a free trade deal signed in 2017, that gives companies easier access in both regions for doing business and exporting goods and services.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has set a goal to double Canada’s non-U.S. trade within a decade.
“This is not just an economic target, it is a strategy to reduce vulnerability, protect Canadian workers from shocks beyond our control, and build long term resilience. And Europe is an important partner to build on this ambitious goal,” Sidhu said.
The negotiations on digital trade, which will be Canada’s first such agreement, will be concluded within this year, he said.
(Reporting by Nivedita Balu and Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
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