【By Observer News, Chen Sijia】According to China Central Television news, on July 27 local time, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Donald Trump jointly announced that the United States and the European Union have reached a new trade agreement to avoid a larger-scale trade war between the two sides.

According to this agreement, in exchange for the United States lowering tariffs, the EU will completely give up importing Russian oil and natural gas, and instead purchase American energy. Von der Leyen said: "Purchasing American energy will diversify our supply sources and contribute to Europe's energy security. We will purchase large amounts of American liquefied natural gas, oil, and nuclear fuel to replace Russian oil and natural gas."

She revealed that within the next three years, the EU will purchase $75 billion worth of energy products from the United States, "we are absolutely determined to get rid of Russian fossil fuels." European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic stated that given the EU's plan to gradually eliminate Russian energy supplies before 2027, Europe "obviously needs solid, reliable energy supplies."

On July 27 local time, Von der Leyen met with Trump. Visual China

Regarding the agreement reached between the EU and the United States, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov responded on the 28th, saying: "It is clear that this approach will lead to further deindustrialization of Europe, capital flowing from Europe to the United States, which will be a heavy blow to Europe - first of all, energy prices, then the outflow of investment in European industry and agriculture."

Lavrov sarcastically said: "But people like Von der Leyen are proud of such choices: Yes, we will have to spend more money; Yes, our ability to solve social issues for the people may be weakened, but we must beat Russia." He pointed out that this agreement is obviously not favorable to Europe, "this does not even need analysis."

Russian Federation Security Council Deputy Chairman Medvedev also wrote that the agreement prohibiting Europe from purchasing Russian oil and natural gas is clearly targeting Russia.

He wrote: "Trump has crushed Europe. The new US-EU agreement thoroughly humiliates Europeans because this deal benefits only the United States. It cancels the protection of the European market, reduces tariffs on US imports to zero. It brings huge additional costs to many EU countries' industries and agriculture because they have to pay for expensive US energy. It also causes a large amount of investment to flow from Europe to the United States."

Medvedev said that although Trump's words and actions are extremely contradictory, he has always been highly consistent on one thing: he is firmly pushing for American economic interests.

According to Trump's statement, after reaching the agreement, the EU will increase investments of $60 billion in the US and purchase $75 billion worth of US energy, and the US will impose a 15% tariff on goods exported to the EU. He said this agreement will "open all European country markets," "I think it is the biggest deal in history."

Von der Leyen said that the 15% tariff will not be added on top of existing tariffs. The US and the EU agreed to implement zero tariffs on multiple import categories, including aircraft and their parts, specific chemicals, generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, and some agricultural products.

However, Von der Leyen's compromise has caused dissatisfaction among some officials and countries in Europe. Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, stated that the US-EU trade agreement is seriously unbalanced and biased, not only weakening the EU's economic strength, but also resembling the US government's practice of imposing tariffs to "extort" Japan and other countries.

Lange believes that although the 15% uniform tax provides a certain degree of predictability and legal security in trade relations, overall, this agreement is far from balanced and may cause long-term harm to Europe. He said that the EU Commission's commitment of $60 billion in investments to the US, as well as the large-scale purchase of US military technology, is not conducive to employment and industrial development in Europe.

French Prime Minister Bérèr also posted on social media on the 28th, criticizing the trade agreement reached between the EU and the US, calling it the "Von der Leyen-Trump Agreement." Bérèr said that the EU has always stood united to defend its values and interests, but ultimately chose to yield to the US, "that was a dark day."

This article is an exclusive work of Observer News. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7532140701107094070/

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