00:00To get the view now from the Trump administration, we're joined here in the studio by the U.S.
00:04Ambassador to the European Union, Andrew Puzder. Lovely to have you back with us.
00:07Great to be here, Maeve. Thanks for having me.
00:09So all eyes on this vote finally taking place this Thursday. Will it pass, do you think?
00:14All the signs seem to be good. You hate to take anything for granted, and I don't want to prejudge
00:18the result. We're going to keep working with people to make sure we address any issues that
00:23they have. But I say the signs are good. And it really would be economic malpractice not to pass
00:27this. It's a great deal for the United States and a great deal for the European Union. So
00:31hopefully we'll see it passed. We'll keep a close eye on it. You heard in that report that some think
00:36that the U.S. is the biggest obstacle to doing trade with the European Union. How would you react to
00:41that
00:41argument? I'd say, you know, we signed this agreement in, I think, yeah, we signed it in August, late
00:47August of this year. And every day since then, the United States has been in compliance with what it
00:52agreed to do under the agreement. We have yet to have a day where the Europeans are in compliance
00:57because they had a process to go through. I guess the second to the last step will be, or maybe
01:03the
01:03third to the last step is Parliament approves, then they go to Trilog, and then they vote again.
01:07But we're anxious to see it approved. But I don't think the United States is the obstacle. Like I
01:13say, we've been complying. We're waiting for Europe to get through its process.
01:17But there's anxiety, of course, among European lawmakers. There's anxiety among European business due to the
01:22fact that every second week we hear different announcements from the White House when it comes to
01:26potential tariffs that would hurt our economy here in Europe.
01:28So, as I said, despite what you're hearing, despite the political talk, the United States has been in
01:34compliance every day. There's not one day where we haven't been in compliance under the agreement.
01:38And we're waiting for Europe to be in compliance like one day. So, I mean, I don't think this is
01:43a
01:43one-sided issue. We're ready to go.
01:47And can the Europeans trust you?
01:48Of course they can. They've trusted us for 250 years, I think. At least many of them have.
01:54And what happens if this is signed, but then in a couple of weeks, Trump gets angry with Spain,
01:58for example, due to their stance on certain geopolitical issues and decides to cut off trade
02:03with them?
02:03Well, if you're saying what happens if somebody breaches the agreement, then I think the parties
02:07have to analyze where they are. I don't know that that particularly would be a breach. We'd have to
02:12wait and see how the agreement comes out. We're still waiting to go through amendments that the
02:16parliament's proposed and whether the council will accept those amendments and there'll be a different
02:21bill out of the trilog. And so we're waiting to see what the final bill says. But it's like any
02:25other agreement. If one party breaches, the other party reacts.
02:29And of course, the big news that we're reporting on this morning is Commission President Ursa
02:32van der Leyen in Australia clinching a brand new trade deal for the Europeans with Australia.
02:37What's the view from the White House on this?
02:40Look, if two of our closest allies come to an agreement on trade, I think that that helps the
02:46world. It doesn't hurt the world. We just want to make sure we get our deal done.
02:50Of course, you're not jealous of the other friendships that the European Union has across
02:53the world. We have other agreements as well. We have agreements with South Korea, with Japan.
02:59We're moving forward on a number of different tracks. I don't think we could
03:03lecture somebody else about doing the same.
03:05And is that a warning shot to Brussels to get that vote across?
03:08I don't make warning shots. I'm just hopeful that they'll get it across. I think it's in their
03:12best interest. I think it's in our best interest, best interest of the people of Europe and the
03:16people of America. So let's get it done. Let's move on. Let's really build the kind of economic
03:20relationship and the kind of joint prosperity that we could and should share.
03:24Okay, we'll keep a close eye on it. Ambassador Andrew Puzder, thank you so much for coming into us here.
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