What should Europe do now?
Fred Guerdin / European Union, 2025 / EC - Audiovisual Service It was galling to watch the spectacle, last month, of European Co mmissioner, Ursula Von Der Leyen sitting beside Donald Trump at his gaff in Scotland – the Turnberry golf course. It was a case of: ‘You come to my place and beg and by the way don’t forget to say a big thank you to Daddy ’ (as Mark Rutter might have added). In the inevitable whirlwind of breaking news the episode has been left behind. Later, on the 21 st of this month a statement was made that an ‘agreement’ had been reached securing a maximum 15% tariff on EU goods exports to the US including a key sector of interest to Ireland – pharmaceuticals. The four-page ‘agreement’ is referred to as a ‘ Framework Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade ’. It is anything but. The European Union agreed to a number of provisions including the following: