The E.U. Wooed Trump With Flashy but Flimsy Numbers

“When Donald Trump unveiled his trade deal with the European Union on Sunday night, he fixated on its size. And when the White House later released a fact sheet on the agreement, it trumpeted pledges by the Europeans for big investments in the United States,” the New York Times reports.

From the U.S. document: “The E.U. will purchase $750 billion in U.S. energy and make new investments of $600 billion in the United States, all by 2028.”

“But when the European Union released its own fact sheet on Tuesday, its description of that pledge was more muted — and far more noncommittal on spending outside of energy.”

“There’s a reason for the equivocation: The European commitments are more like vague estimates than specific promises.”

In fact, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that there’s “plenty of horse trading left to do.”