Text messages by trade czar Šefčovič reveal early concerns over EU-US deal

BRUSSELS — The EU’s trade chief relayed concerns from European businesses, capitals and lawmakers to senior Trump administration officials last fall that Washington’s expanding tariffs risked breaching a trade agreement agreed on just weeks earlier.

In a letter and text messages, dated Sept. 30, 2025, and obtained by POLITICO, Maroš Šefčovič wrote that steep U.S. tariffs on products containing steel were undermining a trade truce that had been formalized in a joint statement little more than a month before.

Writing to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, the EU trade commissioner also passed on concerns about additional trade investigations by Washington and the failure by the Trump administration to exempt a series of European goods from U.S. duties.

The correspondence, disclosed following a freedom of information request from POLITICO, reveals how quickly European confidence was eroding in the agreement reached by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at U.S. President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland on July 27. The handshake deal, which foresaw a 15 percent U.S. duty on most European exports while the bloc would scrap all duties on U.S. industrial goods, was criticized at the time as one-sided.

Even though Šefčovič has also raised the concerns publicly, they remain unaddressed.

European lawmakers approved legislation on Thursday to implement the Turnberry accord with a series of amendments. One would delay its entry into force until the U.S. scraps much higher tariffs on hundreds of steel derivative products — from auto parts to chemicals, plastics and furniture components.

“EU stakeholders, constituencies, and businesses are increasingly expressing strong concerns,” Šefčovič wrote last September via WhatsApp to Greer and on Signal to Lutnick.

Šefčovič went on in his letter to address the expansion of a 50 percent U.S. tariff to more than 400 products containing steel and aluminum following an investigation under Section 232 of the 1962 U.S. Trade Expansion Act, which allows tariffs to be imposed on grounds of national security.

He also referred to new Section 232 investigations, writing that they “indicate a shift away from the fundamental aim and spirit of our agreement, which is to ensure predictability and stability in transatlantic trade.”

POLITICO submitted a freedom of information request last Dec. 2 to the Commission for access to any correspondence regarding the trade deal. The executive missed a Jan. 23 deadline without requesting an extension, and only released the documents on March 25 after a follow-up inquiry.

A deal is a deal

The joint statement, published last Aug. 21, effectively set a tariff ceiling of 15 percent on most exports of EU goods — with the same rate applying to autos, wood products, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors regardless of the results of ongoing U.S. trade investigations.

It made no firm commitments on steel and aluminum, stating only that the two sides intended to consider cooperating to shield their domestic markets from oversupply and ensure secure supply chains, including with tariff-rate quotas, which are duty exemptions on some imports.

Even before the release of the joint statement, the Trump administration took action on Aug. 19 that, in the view of the EU, breached the agreement.

In his letter, Šefčovič raised concerns over the addition by Washington of the items containing steel to the list of products subject to the 50 percent U.S. tariff.

“As per our agreement and numerous discussions, these exports were intended to be subject to a maximum all-inclusive tariff of 15%. However, they now face significantly higher tariffs due to the 50% duty on their steel and aluminum content, coupled with substantial administrative burden,” he wrote.

He estimated that the expansion of the U.S. tariffs affected EU exports worth $55.7 billion. 

“I would like to request that the U.S. take the necessary steps to ensure that EU exports now classified as steel and aluminum derivatives are subject solely to the single, comprehensive and maximum 15% duty, and do not face additional duties or administrative requirements,” Šefčovič added.

No reply

POLITICO requested access to all exchanges but did not receive any indication that Greer or Lutnick replied to Šefčovič’s text messages. The screenshot of the WhatsApp message to Greer showed two blue ticks, indicating that it had been read by the recipient.

Asked whether the absence of any messages from the U.S. side in the documents indicated that Greer and Lutnick didn’t respond, the Commission’s deputy chief spokesperson, Olof Gill, pushed back, saying Šefčovič was in regular touch with his opposite numbers. 

“The Commissioner is in constant communication with his U.S. counterparts. It’s not an accurate conclusion to draw at all,” Gill said.

Washington has given repeated oral assurances that it would fulfil the Turnberry deal — with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doing so in a call earlier this month with Šefčovič that was first reported by POLITICO. 

Greer, the U.S. trade representative, offered similar assurances to Bernd Lange, the chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee, after the U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down Trump’s original tariffs. A 10 percent interim tariff is now in force.

In his Sept. 30 letter, the trade chief also pressed his U.S. counterparts to follow up on the commitment, made in the joint statement, to develop “joint solutions to ringfence our economies from global overcapacity in the steel and aluminum sectors.” 

That request came just before the Commission proposed last Oct. 7 to double EU steel tariffs to 50 percent — putting them in line with the U.S. duties — and nearly halve duty-free import quotas.

Brussels wants those measures to enter into force by the end of June, when existing EU steel market protections are due to expire under World Trade Organization rules.