Green deal, four assists for US companies in the tariffs agreement

Between extensions and simplifications pre-announced in the 'Omnibus' package, Europe has begun a little at a time to lighten the burden of the green deal on its companies. The latter, however, are now in danger of playing a little less like equals with US companies operating in our continent, as a result of the commitments shared by the Brussels and Washington administrations in the joint declaration on tariffs.

While much of the attention was focused on the final percentage of customs tariffs and on the possible and then failed exemptions (first and foremost for wine, steel and aluminium), the parties sanctioned in points 10, 11 and 12 of the Joint Statement made public last week a certain amount of flexibility in favour of US companies affected by the Csrd (Corporate sustainability reporting directive) and Csddd (Corporate sustainability due diligence directive) sustainability directives, the Cbam (Carbon border adjustment mechanism) regulation and the deforestation regulation. While it is true that the impact of these rules is in any case generally expected to be lighter than in the initial set-up, as a result of the new presidency von der Leyen distancing itself from the environmental orthodoxy that had inspired them, the hypothesis of a double track could now represent a competitive disadvantage for European companies.

Let us look in detail at the principles included in the declaration with reference to US companies operating in Europe.

The first, under item 10, concerns the deforestation regulation, which provides for due diligence obligations for companies to ensure that certain raw materials and products sold in or exported from the EU do not lead to deforestation or forest degradation. Europe has already postponed its implementation by one year, to 30 December 2025 for large operators and traders and to 30 June 2026 for micro and small enterprises. The joint statement reads: 'Recognising that the production of the goods in question in the territory of the United States poses a negligible risk to global deforestation, the European Union is committed to working to address the concerns of US producers and exporters about the EU deforestation regulation in order to avoid an undue impact on US-EU trade'.

Point 11, on the other hand, concerns Cbam, a mechanism that aims to equalise the carbon price applied in the EU internal market and that applied to imports. In effect introducing a form of taxation on the import of electricity and cement, fertilisers, iron, steel, aluminium and hydrogen from non-EU countries. In the 'Omnibus' package, the European Commission, also at the urging of Italy, which together with other European states had highlighted excessive rigidity, proposed easing the burden on SMEs. Now, in the document shared with Brussels, the US has obtained that it will go further: "Noting the concerns of the United States regarding the treatment of small and medium-sized US companies under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (Cbam), the European Commission, in addition to the recently agreed increase in the de minimis exception, is committed to working to provide further flexibility in the implementation of Cbam".