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Jamison Greer, representative of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on April 8, 2024 (local time). / EPA Yonhap

Jamison Greer, representative of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), said on June 4 (local time) that he would respect the tariff caps imposed on goods exported to the United States from the European Union (EU) or Japan, remarking that “a deal is a deal.”

Greer made the comment when asked by reporters in Paris, where the OECD Ministerial Council was being held, about the agreement with the EU. He said, “We will work to address trade practices found problematic in the Section 301 investigation, and of course we will take into account the Turnberry agreement.”

He added, “If the EU implements the Turnberry agreement, I think there is room to accept that agreement within the context of the projects we are pursuing.”

The Turnberry agreement is a temporary trade and tariff truce signed last July at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland between U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

The main points of the agreement are that the U.S. would cap tariffs on EU imports at 15%, while the EU would abolish tariffs on U.S. manufactured goods.

Maroš Šefčovič, the EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, also repeated the phrase “a deal is a deal” to reporters in Paris that day, stressing, “It is absolutely important for us to achieve results that meet the standards of the Turnberry agreement.”

He continued, “For us, this means an all‑inclusive 15% cap. That is our expectation, and we conveyed this to Representative Greer.”

                                                                                                             Kim Hyun‑min