Trump ate von der Leyen for breakfast – Orban
US President Donald Trump dominated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during trade negotiations, resulting in a bad deal for the EU, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
The trade pact was finalized on Sunday following months of tense negotiations.
“This was no agreement... Donald Trump ate Ursula von der Leyen for breakfast,” Orban said on a podcast on Monday. “The European agreement is worse than the UK one. Setting it up for success will be difficult later on,” he argued.
Washington set a 10% tariff on British imports in its deal with the UK last month. By comparison, EU exports to the US will face 15% tariffs, while American goods sold in the EU will face no retaliatory duties.
Additionally, Brussels has pledged to invest another $600 billion in US industries, buy $750 billion worth of American energy, as well as purchase “hundreds of billions of dollars” in US weapons, according to Trump. Von der Leyen said these investments will take place over the next three years.
According to Orban, it is unclear who exactly will pay for this. The European Commission – the president of which signed the deal – lacks its own army and does not have the capital to buy US arms and energy resources, he said. “In whose name was the agreement made?” he asked.
Other officials in the EU also blasted the deal as lopsided.
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Monday accused the bloc of caving to US coercion. Benjamin Haddad, France's minister in charge of European affairs, also criticized the “unbalanced” trade pact, and called on Brussels to retaliate economically.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in a speech on Monday that the deal will “clearly” lead to the “further deindustrialization of Europe and capital flight.”
According to Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, “Trump wiped the floor with Europe.”
