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Good afternoon again. Dear colleagues, thank you for staying in the room. And

to everyone online, hello, it's our pleasure to be back here in the press

room with the EU Trade and Economic Security Commissioner Mara Sevcevic, the

man who has been making and continues to make superhuman efforts to move our

trade agenda forward, including in our talks with the United States. So the

Commissioner will give some introductory remarks, and then we will open the floor for your

questions. Thanks very much, Commissioner, the floor is yours. Good afternoon, everyone. I'm

glad to be here today to follow up on the breakthrough achieved

in Scotland yesterday. It was an honor to join the Commission's

President Ursulaf von der Leyen at the pivotal meeting with the US President Donald

Trump. If I were to sum up this EU US agreement in one sentence

I would say it brings renewed stability and opens the door to

strategic collaboration. This is the result of a month

of genuine and relentless efforts unmatched in the intensity

and matched only by the unparalleled importance of our transatlantic

trade. Its $1.7 trillion value underscores

just how much was at stake. From the start, we have

been convinced that our transatlantic relationship deserves a negotiated outcome

That is why my team and I made 10 visits to Washington

only this year. Given the depth of integration

and mutual reliance on our economies, it was

essential to take the time needed to get this right. To

calibrate an outcome that works for both the European Union

and the US, as well as ensure that trade between us

can continue. Let's pause for a moment

and consider an alternative. A trade war

May seem appealing to some, but it comes with serious consequences

With at least a 30% tariff, our transatlantic trade would effectively

come to a halt. Putting close to 5 million jobs, including

those in SMEs in Europe, at grave risk. Our

businesses have sent us a unanimous message avoid escalation and

work towards a solution that delivers immediate relief, and

I appreciate that several business groups have welcomed the contours of the deal

The sense of stability and prospect of strategic collaboration

are reinforced by the fact that the agreement addresses not only current reciprocal

and high sectoral tariffs, but also forthcoming tariffs on pharmaceuticals

semiconductors and lumber. You are now familiar with the key

pillars of the deal discussed in Scotland, notably a single

15% tariff ceiling, then $750 billion in strategic

purchases, and an additional $600 billion in anticipated

private investments into the US economy. On top of that, let

me highlight the following 3 points. First, over the

past few months, we have gained a better mutual understanding of each

side's sensitivities. As stated before, We can relate

to the objective of reindustrialising the US economy as we are pursuing

the same goal ourselves. That is why the agreement sees

a significant list of goods on which both sides will apply a zero tariff

rate where it is in our shared interest to strengthen our trade. Importantly

this list remains open to further additions. Second We

also believe that certain prospects and certain aspects of global trade policy

need fundamental change. For instance, non market overcapacity

is equally destroying the EU steel industry. That is why

the agreement sees clear prospect of joint action on steel, aluminum, copper

and the derivatives in what I like to call a metals alliance, effectively

creating a joint ring fence around our respective economies through tariff rate quotas

at historic levels with preferential treatment. We will also

establish a common approach to addressing. Source economies of

overcapacity. Moreover, we are reducing tariffs on

our cars from the current 27.5% to 15%

while enabling EU carmakers to expand their exports from the US. This

will enhance the global standing and strengthen our value chain, as numerous European

SMEs support production activities in the United States. Third

We believe we need to think strategically about future technologies. That

is why the agreement also sees strategic purchases of gas, oil, nuclear

but also US AI chips. Here the aim is to strengthen our technological

edge in a way that benefits both sides. All in all

this is an agreement which should generate meaningful and mutual benefits, and I hope

it will be a stepping stone to a broader EU US trade and investment

agreement in the future, while also fostering our joint efforts to

tackle. Pressing global challenges such as much needed reform of the

WTO. We have been in constant dialogue with our Member States

and key stakeholders, and I want to sincerely thank them for their trust

in the Commission and our continued unity throughout

this process. This morning, we briefed the Member States, as well as

Members of the European Parliament. In conclusion, I want

to appreciate once again the leadership of President von der Leyen, as well as the

collaboration with my counterparts for the countless hours of intense engagement

which I hope will pay off. Many thanks, Commissioner, we start the questions here in

the room. Thank you very much

here, Commissioner Jorjaro with Bloomberg. Two questions. the first one, are you

rock solid convinced that President Trump will maintain its commitment of

150% tariff for pharma and chips after the investigations are conclude, after

I mean, knowing how President Trump behaves and what you saw during the negotiations, and

secondly. Given that the energy purchases are are totally in the hands of

companies, do you fear that the US might retaliate if you don't

achieve this €250 billion of

purchases per year? Thank you. Please go ahead, Commissioner. Thank you. Thank you very much

for. So on, on, on your, on your first question, I mean this was the

issue which was discussed already for quite some time and

for us it was very clear that 15% is acceptable in

the case that 15% is seen as inclusive, so no

stacking and would also cover the ongoing. 232 investigation

and I think that it's very clear in summing up of the negotiation

yesterday that this point was made very clearly by the President von der Leyen

and I believe that with our American counterparts

we are opening a new chapter. We spend a lot of time together. We know

each other much better than before. We understand each other's sensitivities, each

other's perspectives, and we also will

be informing each other much more frequently about

all the important decisions taken. So I believe that this commitment will

be honored, will be. respected in this case

as well. If it comes to energy. purchases

I think we discussed, in the, in the past, how we've been

working together from the perspective of common purchase platform. Of course, we will

discuss of the this approach with my colleague, Danny Jorgensen

who is responsible for the energy sector right now. But if you look at the

the current, purchases and if you look at the perspective that, we

will be phasing out the Russian energy supply by

2027. So it's very clear that Europe will need, the

solid, consolidated and reliant supply of energy. We are not talking

only about LNG. We are talking about oil, and I would say what is also

a new element, this is the nuclear fuel, as I'm sure you know, Europe

is going through the nuclear energy renaissance and therefore

new technology, nuclear fuel will be very much needed for the current

but also future nuclear power plants in Europe. And I would add that significant addition

To the strategic purchase list is something that we very much need in the

European Union, and these are high quality AI chips. I think you

know our policies quite well, and you know how much emphasis we put on

developing AI centers, AI gigafactories in Europe

and therefore for me, this is one of the very important strategic achievements. that we

have now the clarity that the top quality chips would be available

for us Europeans, that we will collaborate in this field very, very closely with our

American partners because this is clearly opening a new chapter of strategic cooperation in such

a future oriented sector like AI. Many

thanks to Commissioner Tom Muller Nilsson. Thank you very much, Thomas

Mel, you're active. I have two questions, Commissioner. So the first is on this joint

action on steel, aluminum and copper derivatives to combat overcapacities. I mean, are you suggesting

that the EU and the US will jointly impose tariffs on Chinese metals? And if

not, what exactly is it that's that's been agreed? And second of all, I'd just

like to ask a couple of months ago you gave an interview with the. times

we said the EU is prepared to make a €50 billion trade offer. Obviously, the

final deal was significantly larger, 250 billion just for energy purchases alone, so

could you just explain how this went from 50 billion to 250 billion energy plus

the 600 billion investment, plus military purchases as well? Could you

explain how that transformation happened? Thanks very much. Thank you very much, Thomas, starting with

the, with the, with the, with the first question, if it comes to this metals

union, I think I mean in this many hours of discussions, we

had with our US counterpart, I think it, it, it became very, very clear that

if it comes to, to steel and metals, we are not, each other's problem. We

are not destroying US steel sectors and they are not destroying our steel sector. On

top of it, we are very complimentary, and I know that the United States are

very much in need of our high specialty steel. So what we concluded

after these these negotiations was very clear that

what What would benefit both of us as much as possible is

if, if we would have a kind of metals union between us, meaning that we

would we would set the, the tariff rate quota based on let's say historic

flows between EU and the US and let's say at MFN level, as

we've been trading until now, so it means that the complementarity of our metal sectors

would continue, will be further developed, and that we will take jointly on what is

the global problem for the steel sectors, and this is global overcapacity. So of course

US preferred tariffs. We've been working with the, with the quotas

with the TRQs until now. You're familiar that just a few weeks, a few

weeks ago, we adopted the steel Action Plan, which was very much expected by our

steel industry. We are actively preparing the additional measures for post 20. 26

safeguard situation, so it's a pressing issue. It's a pressing issue. I'm talking to the

fellow alloys companies. I'm talking to aluminum companies. It's pressing, pressing issues. So it's very

clear that what we need to do is to address the overcapacity because this is

really killing our industry, and if we can do it together with our US partners

So we definitely would go in that direction and of course details how this would

work, the mechanics of it clearly would need to be discussed, but we want to

be complementary, to help each other here, to make sure that the

the steel and metal industries in both EU and the US would strive and will

not be threatened by by overcapacities built over the last decade

Many thanks Kim Hi

Kim McCree from the Wall Street Journal. thanks for doing this, commissioner. I, I wondered

this builds a little bit on the last question about the metals Alliance you, you

mentioned, but between the metals Alliance, and what

was said so far and what we understood from the briefing about semiconductor purchases and

the decision to preference the US for semiconductor purchases over China, for

example. Taking this together, what do you see, what

do you think the outcome of this deal means for the EU's relationship with China

Are you working with the US right now to box China out of the, of

the trade that you're doing between perhaps the US and the EU and perhaps other

major trading partners? and just a quick question about the EU's WTO

re obligations. The way I understood from the technical briefing, this

to, to work in terms of the EU's decision to lower some tariffs is that

some tariffs will be lowered unilaterally and only for the US, is

that in line with the EU's obligations under the WTO to do it that way

as opposed to most favored nation. Thanks. Thank you, thank you very much, Kim. So

the, so the first, question on, on China, as you know, just last week we

had the EU China summit and President von der Leyen and

President Costa visited their counterparts in Beijing. Of course

at the beginning of the, of the year, we hoped for

better results which will be delivered By the summit, but I have to say

that despite the strenuous efforts of my colleagues and myself and several

long meetings with my Chinese counterparts, unfortunately, the list of

accumulated issues on the table will not get shorter but just grew longer and

and clearly the, the issue is overcapacity, the issue is linked with what

we perceive as illegal subsidies, the

question mark over how our companies are treated in in

China if they, if they get the fair access to public procurement and other issues

and, and quite a few absolutely unwarranted trade

defense measures taken about the products coming, coming, coming from, from Europe, and

I think that all this was very clearly. Remunerated and highlighted

in a preparatory long VTC I had with my counterpart

Minister Wawang Tao, just few days before, before, I think it was actually the day

before, before summit and then by both presidents, von der Leyen and

and Costa in, in Beijing. So I think it's, it's, it's quite clear that there

is a lot of, a lot of issues, we have to deal with China

because we just want to have fair trade relationship with them. I would unders

underline fair, fair treatment of our companies, And also

clear commitment if it comes to, to subsidies of

the, of the, of the products exported to the, to the EU because we cannot

afford to have another, development like we had with

photovoltaic panels, a couple of, couple of years ago. So

I mean, of course, the, the US in many aspects are in similar situation. We

are dealing with critical raw materials issues. We are, we are, we are dealing

with. with the permits and

export permissions for rare earth, permanent magnets, and

and I would say this strategic elements which are needed for our industry, so it's

only natural for the close allies like we are with the US to to compare

the notes and to cooperate in all these aspects. As

you know, we also work very, very closely with the US if it comes to

the dual use technologies. you know how complementary we are

if it comes to the semiconductors, because, if the US have the best chip

designers, we have the best machine on this planet to print this chips. So clearly

we are complementary here and we want, we want to consolidate this further

by building very solid and strong AI capacities in In Europe

If it comes to the WTO, you know that the European Union is

and will remain, the strongest champion and supporter of WTO and

rules based trade, and nothing changes about it. At the same

time, I am in frequent contacts with Dr. Ngozi, Director General

of the WTO, and I think we both recognize the fact which became so

clear. After the ministerial meeting in, in Paris a couple of

months ago that WTO needs deep reform, and I appreciate

the efforts of, of Doctor Ngozi, which are very much supported by us to deliver

on, on, on these reforms, and I think we have a precious

opportunity. To progress between now and the spring

ministerial council in Cameroon to achieve that, otherwise it

will be extremely difficult for the, for the WTO to play the same role

as they're playing now or as they play next year, but we from the EU

side will have them at every step on the way to achieve that goal because

they are absolutely convinced we need the rules. We need a well functioning WTO and

and we need to really clarity for the, for the, for the global, for the

for the global trade. And of course, the last part of your question was that

we look at The agreement which was agreed

upon yesterday as the opening of the process. We want to end up with the

trade agreement with the US and

the trade agreement which would be fully compatible with the WTO rules. Many

thanks, Commissioner Rehn. Commissioner

I have a political question. Some Member States say

they are disappointed with this agreement because it is not balanced

enough. How do you plan to convince them? Thank you. Thank

you, thank you very much. I think first and foremost, we did our, our

utmost to keep our Member states involved

and informed at every step of the way, and we had

I would say almost permanent contacts with them, including the

the corporate meetings before and after every engagement

on my level, every engagement on the level of our technical teams, and of course

before and after the meeting of President von der Leyen with with

President Trump. And we've been of course explaining to them the complexity of

the situation and if Some still believe that we can return

to the pre-April 2nd situation. I think also with the agreements

which are struck between the United States and its trading partners

over the last couple of weeks, or I'm sure the number of letters just

setting the new tariff lines between now and the 1st August, it's quite obvious that

the world, which was there before the 2nd of April is gone. We

simply need to adjust, we need to address the challenges which are coming

from this from this new approach, and I believe that the strategic cooperation

with our with our strategic partner is a better outcome that

all out trade war. In my introductory remarks, I was just describing what would it

mean. Tariffs more than 30%. Then a

huge political tension. Lots of SMEs under dramatic

pressure and loss of potentially of hundreds of

thousands if not millions of jobs, and what would happen after that? The situation will

become so unbearable that we have to get to the negotiated solution

after that. We will have to sit and negotiate a new deal, but in much

much worse conditions. So therefore, I believe that the

the, the tasks we set for ourselves when I for the first time met my

counterpart, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik. The next day after this confirmation when I

said Howard, let's work together to avoid this mutual pain. Because as the two allies

we should be able to find the deal, to understand each other. You want

to reindustrialize, we want to reindustrialize. You want to have high value air

chips. We want to have wide chips. We want to have energy security, you want

to have energy security. So I think that, that I think what is important at

this stage, even though I know that For some, that potential

kind of other outcome might seem very appealing now

but they did go through all the numbers, through all the consequences, through all the

impact it would have on every sector, and we did that. And we did that

and therefore, with full consciousness, I'm 100% sure that this deal is better

than the trade war with the United States. Many thanks, Commissioner. We

don't have too much time left for the commissioner. He's under pressure, so we'll take

a few questions in the room and then we'll wrap up Jorge. Hello

Commissioner Jorge Libredo with Euronews. Just following up on my colleague what he said. I

mean, it's objective that this deal is quite unbalanced because you have 15%

on one side and almost 0% or virtually 0 on the other side. So do

you consider this a good deal or just a case of damage control

And second, do you have any regrets about not using retaliation at any

stage of the process in a bid to secure more concessions? Thank you. Thank

you, thank you very much, Jorge. At first, I would say that this

is clearly the, the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances

and I have to say, that you will be not in the room, but if

you have been in the room yesterday, you would see that we really started with

30%. That was absolutely real perspective that is the 1st of August, we have 30%

tariff. On our exports, which would, as I already mentioned

practically halt, stop all the trade, and I have to say that President von der

Leyen did terrific negotiations yesterday. She was absolutely great in, in

in managing these negotiations to the conclusion

of the deal, which I'm absolutely convinced. Saves the trade, save the trade flows, save

the jobs in, in, in Europe, and opens

new chapter in EU US relations, how to adjust our mutual trading patterns in

this new age of geoeconomics and geopolitics, and that's, that's for me, it's very important

political answer because it's not only about the trade. It's about security

It's about Ukraine. it's about current geopolitical volatility

I cannot go into the all details what everything was discussed yesterday, but I can

assure you it was not only about the trade. So therefore, I mean to have

a possibility that the two biggest economies and two closest allies can openly discuss all

sensitive issues and as I can judge from the discussion yesterday are very

much aligned. On the geopolitical issues of today, I think has

additional additional price. It has additional worth

in, in, in having, in having this, this deal done because I believe that from

now we can go only for the better. We can go for the improvement, closer

cooperation, fair trade agreement, and, and simply work

on all these issues we've been kind of accumulating on the table for

for quite some time. Many thanks, Commissioner. Commissioner, we have 100 of our hardworking journalists

tuned in online, so we should give one of them the floor, and on top

of my list is Rebecca Gwalandi from Carbon Pulse. Rebecca, the floor is yours. Go

ahead. Rebecca

can you knock on your mic? Can we see you, please? Sorry

sorry, can you hear me now? You see you and hear you. Please go ahead

OK, thank you. So in in 2024, the US, the EU

imported €76.9 billion of energy

from the US, so. If we want to get to the target, then that

means roughly tripling our purchases of US energy, taking into account exchange rates

So how, how do we do that? Do we put a target? Is it

feasible? I've heard from energy experts that it's actually not feasible. The target is not

actually possible because the US doesn't even produce that much LNG or

energy products, so yeah, I'm just wondering how you're going to monitor

this, these purchases, if there's going to be a platform, how you're going to convince

EU member states and companies, and also this target actually

seems very in opposition to the climate targets and to the objective of reducing energy

prices in the EU. So it seems a bit contradictory to many of the things

that the EU has said. Thank you. Thank you very much, Rebecca

for, for your, for your questions. I think that look, when we, when we approach

the assessment of Of, this

this goal. So we look at gas, we looked at oil, we look at nuclear

fuel, which is, which is, which is new, and we also look at AIT. So

these are the four basic categories, and we look at what can

be achieved in the term of President Trump, but what

can go also beyond the term of President Trump and and as you

know, I, I was responsible for Managing

the joint purchase of gas platform in the, in the, in the last

commission, and I know what the LNG

exporters need to give you a good price. They need predictability. They

need long-term contracts so they can invest in development of further infrastructure

and once the further infrastructure is built, then of course you have more competition in

the market and and you have a, you have a good price. So if you

look at what are the what are the amounts of energy

we would need, especially if you are proceeding. through phasing

out of Russian energy supplies, in the, in the next years

if you are looking at the nuclear renaissance in Europe, if you're looking at the

booming industry of AI where we would need 40 billion of the chips, we believe

that these numbers are achievable. And of course, we will work with our companies

with the member states, with my colleagues in the commission. How to set up that

mechanism and of course this would be one of the issues which we would be

regularly discussing with our US counterparts because of course, from our perspective

that's, that's the offer. We are, we are ready to to go for that for

that purchase and I know that on their side they're also working. very hard to

be, to be able to produce that volumes, that, that quantity of

of energy and therefore I would say it would be, it would be joint, joint

effort, but to have Solid supplies for your close allies and to to have

it at a good price and good quality is something what in these volatile

volatile times where, as you know from the past we have seen

how energy supplies could be weaponized. I think it's also very important for overall

competitiveness of the European economy. Many thanks, Commissioner, and with this we draw

our press point to a close. Huge thanks to the Commissioner for making himself available

Thank you to our wonderful interpreters, thank you to our technical experts for keeping the

show on the road. Get in touch with us at the SPP if you have

any follow up questions, and we look forward to talking to you again soon.