EU secured best possible trade deal with US, says EU chief

STRASBOURG (Reuters) -The European Union got the best trade deal available with the United States and secured EU businesses an advantage over many foreign rivals, the head of the European Commission said on Wednesday.

"We ensured that Europe got the best possible deal out there. We have put our companies at a relative advantage. Because some of our direct competitors face much higher US tariffs," Ursula von der Leyen told the European Parliament.

Several lawmakers have criticised the deal, under which the EU will lower its duties, while the United States sets a broad 15% tariff on EU goods. The parliament will vote in the coming months on the Commission's proposal to remove EU duties on U.S. industrial goods.

Von der Leyen said that some competitors had secured lower U.S. baseline tariffs than the 15% the bloc is facing, but the EU had ensured that pre-existing duties were not added on top, unlike most rivals.

The Commission president said the EU exported 500 billion euros ($585.20 billion) of goods to the United States each year, on which millions of jobs depended.

"The deal provides crucial stability in our relations with the US at a time of grave global insecurity. Think of the repercussions of a full-fledged trade war with the U.S. Picture the chaos," she said.

($1 = 0.8544 euros)

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, writing by Philip Blenkinsop, editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)

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