EU-US trade deal is a bad deal for the EU and an even worse one for the climate

The Green Party has warned that Sunday’s tariff deal on tariffs and trade between the European Union is heavily dependent on oil and gas and may derail the EU’s climate goals. While the deal may have averted a trade war, it locks the European Union into a commitment to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of liquified natural gas and oil from the United States.

The past year has seen increasing backsliding across the EU on the European Green Deal, with hard-fought for environmental gains being eroded. The new US-EU trade deal appears to be another significant blow, with a commitment from the EU to spend $250bn on U.S. energy, primarily in the form of crude oil and LNG.

European Affairs Spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe said:

“There is clearly a palpable sense of relief that a trade war has been averted, but it comes at a heavy cost. It will lock the European Union into buying vast amounts of oil and fracked gas from the United States. This is bad news for the planet and may derail the EU’s climate targets in the coming years. 

“While full details of the tariffs and trade deal have yet to be published, it seems to rely to heavily on appeasing the US administration at a heavy cost to climate. US President Trump’s views on climate contradict what we know about our warming world and will have heavy consequences in years to come.”

Janet Horner, Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence said:

"The move to grow spending on fossil fuels is immoral, short-sighted and deeply damaging. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people across Europe are making personal changes and supporting societal shifts because of urgency of climate action, yet Von Der Leyen has signed the EU up to hundreds of billions in a commitment to dependency on U.S. fossil fuels." 

"The outrageously high target is a move in the total wrong direction given the urgency of moving away from fossil fuel. Europe's long term energy security lies in low-carbon fuels such as wind and solar. These are being directly attacked by the U.S. administration and it is a betrayal of all who are working tirelessly to secure a climate stable future that Von Der Leyen, on behalf the EU, has offered this up on the chopping block of the negotiations."