EU pushes back as US revives trade pressure on bloc

The EU responded strongly to renewed trade pressure from the United States, arguing that Washington was singling out the bloc for criticism over Chinese trade practices while undermining its own environmental and human rights standards. U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder called on the EU to align with the EU-U.S. trade deal on environmental and human rights supply chain rules, warning that the bloc must address his concerns or face further measures.

The EU responded by stating that it would not negotiate its regulatory framework or regulatory autonomy, emphasizing that its flagship green rules were non-negotiable. The EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) require large companies to address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their global supply chains, sparking concerns among U.S. businesses about their competitiveness.

The EU has already reduced the scope of the laws to ease the burden on smaller firms, but Puzder said these changes were not sufficient. The U.S. also flagged the EU among trading partners with risks of illegal transshipment from China, vowing to use AI to detect such practices in the future, but the EU noted that the risks were embedded within legitimate trade flows.