While the usual suspects in the media have been painting President Donald Trump's weekend trip to Scotland as a vacation and running away from tough situations in Washington, Trump hammered out a major trade deal with the European Union that was announced Sunday afternoon.
Prior to beginning their private meeting, European Union President Ursula Von Der Leyen and Trump made brief remarks to the press, and Trump took questions. As my colleague Ward Clark covered, Trump touched on a number of topics, including "renewable energy" schemes like windmill farms that he says drive whales "loco." Looking back at that initial press conference now, just about an hour later, it's clear that Trump used that presser as an opportunity to assess Von Der Leyen and disarm her before he and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick went in for the kill.
CHECK IT OUT: Trump Talks Green Energy in Scotland: Windmills Are 'Killing Us,' Driving Whales 'Loco'
Upon the meeting's conclusion, Trump announced the deal and gave the particulars:
We're going to do the following: The European Union is going to agree to purchase from the United States $750 billion worth of energy. They are going to agree to invest into the United States $600 billion more than they're investing already. So they're investing a large amount of money. They've agreed to open up their countries to trade at zero tariff, so that's a very big factor...and they've agreed to purchase a vast amount of military equipment. We are agreeing that the tariff straight across for automobiles and everything else will be a straight-across tariff of 15 percent.
🚨 BREAKING: President Trump hits MAJOR HOME RUN with a massive European Union trade deal while in Scotland...victory. 'ZERO TARIFF.' Experts lose again.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 27, 2025
"The EU is going to purchase from the US $750 BILLION worth of energy...Agree to invest $600 billion. Agree to open up their… pic.twitter.com/OuRfm4EZNV
Trump didn't give a specific amount that the EU countries would spend on military equipment, saying that there wasn't a firm number in the deal, but that it would be "hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment."
The agreement for the EU to purchase $750 billion worth of energy from the United States changes the state of political affairs globally since it makes EU countries less dependent on Russia for energy, and takes lots of money out of the pockets of Vladimir Putin and Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.
Von Der Leyen said the deal was necessary to "rebalance" trade between the EU and the US and, sounding a tad bit Trumpian, she said:
"We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability. That's very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. It's 15 percent tariffs across the board, all inclusive, the investments that Mr. President just described that are gonna go to the United States...indeed, basically the European market is open. It's 450 million people. So, it's a good deal. It's a huge deal with tough negotiations. I knew it at the beginning, and it was indeed very tough. But, we came to a good conclusion for both sides."
The deal has been in the works for "months," Trump said, adding, "I think it's good that we made a deal today instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all." All tariffs will go into effect on August 1.
Trump's meeting with Von Der Leyen wasn't announced until Saturday evening, when the White House published an updated schedule for Sunday. Trump says he has "many more" meetings planned during the trip.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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