“All I can tell you is that we’ve avoided the worst case, we’ve landed on 15 percent, and we will make it work technically with the minimum of costs and the minimum damage for our exporters,” Gill added.
Initially, the White House and the European Commission aimed to publish a joint statement by Aug. 1. Whether that will happen, however, is now uncertain, with many details still to be ironed out.
Gill said he couldn’t say “precisely when that joint statement will be ready, but it should be soon.”
Moreover, the White House and the European Commission have published seperate fact sheets on the deal that contain competing information.
The White House states, for example, that “the European Union will pay the United States a tariff rate of 15 percent, including on autos and auto parts, pharmaceuticals, and semiconductors.”
The EU executive asserts that 15 percent tariffs on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors will only be imposed once “the U.S. decides on whether to impose additional tariffs on these products pursuant [separate, ongoing investigations in the U.S.].”
