Senior European Union officials voiced sharply different assessments of the US erecting new barriers to trade with over 60 global partners. While the Commission expressed guarded relief, foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke of a negative surprise.
The European Commission moved quickly to find the silver lining to the latest twist of the neverending tariff saga. On Friday, just after US President Donald Trump’s administration imposed new duties of between 10 and 12.5 per cent on imports from 60 trading partners, Brussels issued a carefully worded statement of qualified relief.
“The EU notes positively the fact that this outcome is in line with the U.S. tariff commitments under the EU-US Joint Statement,” a European Commission spokesperson said, as reported by Reuters. The new tariffs, the spokesperson added, provided “positive momentum” to continue exploring further exemptions and deepening co-operation.
The forced labour reasoning
The Commission’s relief had a specific basis. The EU is one of a limited number of trading partners for which the new tariffs do not stack on top of pre-existing most-favoured-nation customs duties. The measures also reintroduce additional exemptions for EU goods ranging from cork to diamonds, on top of existing carve-outs for aircraft parts, generic medicines, and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
Under the deal struck at Mr Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland in July 2025, the EU agreed to remove import duties on American industrial goods, while the US imposed 15 per cent tariffs on most EU products. “This is essential to continue providing our respective markets with much-needed stability and predictability,” the Commission spokesperson said.
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Yet the Commission’s guarded welcome sat uneasily alongside sharper voices elsewhere in Europe. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas offered the bluntest rebuttal. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of ASEAN meetings in Manila, she challenged Washington’s forced-labour rationale directly. “You can’t say that for the European Union,” Ms Kallas told Reuters, as reported by KFGO.
“If you compare our labour laws to the ones of the United States, I mean, we have paid vacations, we have very good labour conditions for our employees, so it’s not really grounded,” she added.
As bizarre as it gets
Ms Kallas also made clear the EU had not anticipated the new measures. “Who can keep track of the tariffs going on and off? No, we were not expecting this,” she said. She stressed that the EU had honoured its side of the 2025 transatlantic agreement. “We had a deal with America and we have kept to that deal, that side of the deal,” Ms Kallas said. “That’s why this is a negative surprise that this agreement is not kept.”
Washington justified the new duties by accusing the 60 affected economies of failing to “impose and effectively enforce a prohibition on the importation of goods produced with forced labour”. The legal basis is Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the executive to act without relying on emergency powers.
We had a deal with America and we have kept to that deal. — Kaja Kallas, the EU’s top diplomat
The Supreme Court had earlier this year struck down Mr Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs (imposed after his “liberation day” event in April 2025) as illegal. Washington then introduced a temporary 10 per cent global regime, one that expired on 24 July.
A coalition of the unconvinced
Europe was not alone in its objections. Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said “there is no basis for this tariff against Norway because we already have clear rules that are intended to prevent trade in goods produced using forced labor,” according to the Italian online publication Internazionale.
Australia and Brazil described the new tariffs as unjustified and said they would seek to have them removed. Japan’s chief government spokesperson, Minoru Kihara, described the US imposition of fresh tariffs as “regrettable”. Singapore’s foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan said there was “no technical or economic basis to impose tariffs upon us”.
The EU notes positively the fact that this outcome is in line with the U.S. tariff commitments under the EU-US Joint Statement. — the European Commission
Australia’s trade minister, Don Farrell, was blunter still. “The imposition of a 12.5 per cent tariff on the country’s exports was unjustified, inconsistent with our free trade agreement, and should be removed,” Mr Farrell said.
Canada—already hit on Monday with new Mr Trump tariffs on $20bn worth of goods—issued a more measured reply. “We will continue engaging constructively with the United States on this matter, as well as other outstanding issues, over the coming weeks to the mutual benefit of our citizens,” said Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister in charge of US trade.
Statute books and next steps
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, speaking after meeting his provincial and territorial counterparts, said “everything is on the table depending on the outcome of the negotiations”, according to the BBC. Trade talks with Washington, he added, are intensifying ahead of 19 August, when new US tariffs on Canada will come into effect. “We are going to support Canadian workers, families, businesses, full stop,” Mr Carney said.
Critics in Washington were equally sceptical of the legal scaffolding. “With his global tariffs expiring tonight, Trump is once again flipping through the statute books looking for any authority to keep them in place. Today’s forced labor justification is too convenient to be taken seriously,” said US Representative Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the committee responsible for trade.
Trade lawyer Tim Brightbill, a partner at Wiley Rein in Washington, offered a cooler reading: “As expected, the forced labor tariffs largely replicate current tariff levels as negotiated in various reciprocal trade agreements, and replace the 10 per cent tariffs under Section 122 that expire on Friday,” he told Financial Times.
Ball in Europe’s court
The EU’s immediate posture is to lay low. Ms Kallas, however, said the bloc will seek answers from Washington on the basis and scope of the new measures. The Commission will work to present any outcome as a European success rather than a concession.
We are going to support Canadian workers, families, businesses, full stop. — Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister
Pleasant or not, 24 July made one thing plain, to Brussels and to a wide coalition of partners from Oslo to Canberra. Mr Trump’s tariff wall is back, rebuilt on new legal ground, and the next move belongs to those on the receiving end.
