Donald Trump never wanted to change the cassette. The American president has never ceased to recall that the whole world wanted the Americans, and that they had to hit their heads strongly in return in terms of trade. Do American cars are not sold in Japan? It is the fault of the Japanese and their homologation standards. They have no outlets in Europe? Again, the fault of too restrictive European standards that would have been thought of to rule out American products. Of course, at no time did Donald Trump wondered if the cars designed by American manufacturers were really adapted to the international.
But Trump may have a way out in front of him. The White House has published an official press release in which it announces that Europe and the United States agreed to develop a legal framework in which the homologation standards of each camp would be officially recognized as such.
A Europe in a weak position
“With regard to cars, the United States and the European Union intend to accept and recognize their respective standards mutually”specifies the eighth point of the joint declaration. For the time being, it is more a declaration of intention than anything else.
But this possibility of agreement speaks volumes about the balance of power between Europe and the United States which, as we recall, have just imposed 15% customs duties on European vehicles. Europe indeed seems to be stuck in front of the American ogre, which could, in addition to having surcharged cars, win the battle of approval.
The free movement of cars?
Since 2013, road mortality in Europe has decreased by 16%, while in the United States, it has increased by 25%. Alarming figures, which show a blatant difference in vehicle safety level, especially on the passive level. And for good reason, American approval does not require much of pick-ups and other huge SUVs on safety tests, while in Europe, vehicles must respect safety standards to protect pedestrians in the event of a shock since the early 2000s.
Obviously, there are niches to import American pick-ups into Europe, such as individual reception to approve non-European cars. Practices denounced by certain European organizations.
A recognition agreement for American and European regulations would therefore be a great advantage for American cars that come up against European standards. Conversely, European vehicles will not gain much in the other direction, since they are already already beyond what American legislation is expecting.
Lots of alerts against this agreement
Nothing has yet been done on a regulatory level, but, if this agreement were to be signed, it would be a real regression for Europe. Last March, numerous associations and organizations had signed a letter asking for mutual recognition of standards does not appear in trade negotiations.
“A point to avoid in these negotiations is a capitulation of the EU on vehicle safety standards. Trade negotiators could put pressure in favor of” equivalence “or mutual recognition of vehicles, which would allow vehicles on the American market to be sold in the EU, and vice versa. It would be a catastrophic error, whose consequences would be measured by men, women and children on the UE roads”. Among the signatories of this letter, the International Automobile Federation (FIA).
