Bad news for wines and cavas and car conditions: the fine print of the trade pact with Trump

BarcelonaThe European Union and the United States have put in writing in a joint document, in what is known as joint agreement, the terms of the trade agreement they reached at the end of July European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and US President Donald Trump to avoid a tariff war.

Both economies agreed at that meeting, which took place in Scotland, a general tariff of 15% maximum for European exports, which meant a reduction to the 30% with which he had threatened TrumpIn return, the EU must purchase €700 billion worth of US liquefied natural gas, oil, and nuclear energy products over the next three years. According to the agreement published today, this will help replace Russian gas and oil in the EU market. It has also committed to purchasing €40 billion worth of artificial intelligence (AI) chips.

The main new features in the document published today focus on the automotive sector, chemicals, and wines, champagnes, and spirits. The United States has pledged to replace the current 27.5% tariffs on European cars and their parts when the European Union begins procedures to reduce tariffs on US products. However, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said at a press conference on Thursday that his goal is to present a proposal to eliminate tariffs on US industrial goods this August, which would allow the reduction in the tax on cars to 15% to be applied retroactively from August 1.

As for other products, although the meeting in Scotland between Trump and Von der Leyen still had to resolve which tariffs would be imposed on European semiconductors, chemical products, and pharmaceuticals, the document released Thursday includes them within the package limited to 15%. Since the beginning of August, the United States has applied 15% to all European products subject to so-called "reciprocal tariffs," with the exception of cars.

Wines and cavas, without exceptions

Another sector that was waiting to be finalized was the wine, cava, and spirits sector, which had initially been left out of the political agreement, as Von der Leyen stated from Scotland on July 27. Days later, the European Commission's (EC) spokesperson for trade, Olof Gill,He argued that they were indeed among the products subject to the 15% cap.but it was not known if they could be included among the products that would be exempt. "We did not get this one. But I can tell you that there is a clear commitment from the European Commission to put it on the table," Sefcovic finally said at a press conference.

The only products that will be able to benefit from exemptions starting September 1, through a special regime, are non-available natural resources, including cork, all aircraft and their parts, generic pharmaceutical products and their ingredients – which in turn are written that they will not exceed 15%.

"Regarding steel, the EU and the US intend to work on solutions to ensure secure supply chains, including tariff quotas, while cooperating on measures to protect their economies from excess capacity," the European Commission explained in a statement, regarding a sector that will be excluded from the understanding at the end of July, like aluminum. The day after the agreement, the European sector strongly criticized this exclusion.

The impact in Catalonia

The consequences of the trade agreement, which was political a month ago and is now on paper, are therefore somewhat clearer for Catalonia, although the Catalan economy and its productive fabric will have to wait to determine the impact of these tariffs, as their scope also depends on the global tariff domino effect. That is, on whether or not competing economies impose higher tariffs in sectors that affect Catalonia. In this regard, sources from the Ministry of Economy have indicated that the agreement places European companies in a preferential position over other US trading partners. "The uncertainty has been dispelled," they asserted.

In terms of specific sectors, if the 15% reduction for the automotive sector were to materialize, it would be good news because although Catalonia barely exports vehicles to the United States, it does send components and also participates in the vehicle production chain in other European countries that do export to the United States.

Regarding chemicals, the Catalan industry in this sector has since Thursday the certainty that the tariffs to which it is exposed will not exceed 15%, while Catalan wine and cava producers have seen their products not benefit from exemptions. The exclusion of this sector does not have a major impact on the Catalan economy, but it is a hard blow for the sector, especially for smaller wineries, which have all their production in Catalonia. Last year, still and sparkling wines worth €78.8 million were sold to the US market, representing 13% of Catalan wine exports outside Spain and 2% of all Catalan exports to the United States, according to Prodeca.

Now, the European Commission, which suspended the rebalancing measures as of August 7 under this agreement, must internally validate the joint declaration, which is not legally binding. In the statement, the EU assures that it will "proceed swiftly" with the support of the European Union member states and the European Parliament in accordance with the relevant internal procedures.