Europe’s Far Right Blasts Trump Trade Deal as Support Wavers

Alice Weidel in Berlin Photo by Krisztian Bocsi /Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bl

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(Bloomberg) — Europe’s nationalist parties have taken aim at the trade agreement the European Union announced with the US over the weekend, just as mainstream politicians have started expressing their own concerns about the deal.

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The EU agreed to accept a 15% tariff on most of its exports, while the bloc’s average tariff rate on American goods should drop below 1% once the deal goes into effect. The bloc’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, conceded on Monday that it was “the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances.”

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The accord, which is still vague on most details, has created an awkward situation for leaders, who need to explain to domestic audiences why European products will be at a disadvantage to American goods even though the EU pledged massive investments in the US. This has opened up an avenue of attack for far-right parties that are already skeptical of the EU’s bureaucracy. 

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“The ‘tariff deal’ on American terms is an admission of failure for the EU,” Alice Weidel, co-leader of Germany’s far-right AfD party, said in a statement Monday. The EU is “dismantling its key industries, its energy supply, and the foundations of its prosperity,” she said. 

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Weidel’s criticism comes as the German government has started expressing its own concern over the effects the agreement will have on the economy, after initially cheering the deal. Germany is particularly exposed to a trade agreement given its massive export industry — it sent $34.9 billion of new cars and auto parts to the US in 2024.   

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“It will have a significant impact on the German economy,” German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil told reporters Tuesday. “We will suffer losses in terms of economic growth.”

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France, which has a huge agriculture industry, is facing a similar issue, since the deal will open up access to US agricultural exports. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen took aim at the agreement, lambasting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who announced the accord on Sunday with President Donald Trump. 

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“The trade agreement concluded by Ursula von der Leyen with Donald Trump is a political, economic, and moral fiasco,” Le Pen wrote on social media. “The least that could be done is to acknowledge this stinging failure rather than asking the French, who will be its first victims, to rejoice in it.”

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One of the concessions the EU won in the accord was to lower the tariff on car exports to 15% from the current 27.5% rate. Germany will be the biggest beneficiary of this.

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“Once again French farmers have been sacrificed on the altar of industries across the Rhine, with clauses forcing us to further open the single market to American agricultural products in exchange for reduced taxes on German automobile exports,” Le Pen wrote. 

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has long needled the EU, took a more personal approach in his criticism. 

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“What’s clear is that this isn’t a deal Donald Trump struck with Ursula von der Leyen,” Orban said in an online interview with a pro-government influencer on Monday. “Donald Trump ate Ursula von der Leyen for breakfast.”

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—With assistance from Samy Adghirni.

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