Trump 'wiped the floor' with EU - Medvedev

RT
Mon, 28 Jul 2025 11:01 UTC

© Ekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik/File

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev

Brussels has agreed to sweeping trade tariffs on European exports to the US and other concessions to avoid even higher duties.

The new trade agreement between the US and the EU is "completely humiliating for the Europeans," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said.

The deal, announced on Sunday by US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, includes a requirement for EU member states to increase imports of American energy and defense products. It also imposes a blanket 15% tariff on EU exports to the US - terms accepted by Brussels to avoid even steeper trade penalties.

In a social media post on Monday, Medvedev, who serves as deputy chair of the Russian Security Council, claimed that the terms of the deal meant Trump had "wiped the floor with Europe."

"One can only feel sorry for ordinary Europeans," Medvedev wrote. He asserted that where Trump is seeking economic benefits for American businesses, EU leaders are motivated by an ideological anti-Russian sentiment, as the deal further cements Brussels' intention to terminate all purchases of Russian oil and gas.

The Trump administration has used tariffs as a tool to confront what it considers unfair trade practices and chronic deficits in trade with key partners. In the absence of a deal, EU products could have faced tariffs as high as 50%. Last week, Brussels prepared a list of US goods it was ready to hit with retaliatory duties if negotiations collapsed.

Medvedev and other senior Russian officials have repeatedly portrayed EU leaders as politically weak and overly compliant with Washington's agenda, often at the expense of their own economic interests.

Russia has been especially critical of the EU's break from Russian energy supplies, a move initiated as part of sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. Moscow contends that the resulting shift to more expensive US liquefied natural gas has contributed to the deindustrialization of major European economies.

Comment: Hungarian PM Victor Orban commented: Trump ate von der Leyen for breakfast!

US President Donald Trump dominated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during trade negotiations, resulting in a bad deal for the EU, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. "The European agreement is worse than the UK one. Setting it up for success will be difficult later on."

Brussels has pledged to invest another $600 billion in US industries, buy $750 billion worth of American energy, as well as purchase "hundreds of billions of dollars" in US weapons, according to Trump. Von der Leyen said these investments will take place over the next three years.

According to Orban, it is unclear who exactly will pay for this. The European Commission - the president of which signed the deal - lacks its own army and does not have the capital to buy US arms and energy resources, he said. "In whose name was the agreement made?" he asked.

French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Monday accused the bloc of caving to US coercion. Benjamin Haddad, France's minister in charge of European affairs, also criticized the "unbalanced" trade pact, and called on Brussels to retaliate economically.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in a speech on Monday that the deal will "clearly" lead to the "further deindustrialization of Europe and capital flight."