4 July 2025 – European Commissioner for Trade Maroš Šefčovič (S&D) is currently in Washington to negotiate a much-needed trade deal with the US government on behalf of the European Union before 9 July 2025. But can the Trade Commissioner really deliver? Šefčovič, who has been working for the Commission since 2009, has not yet been able to show any real successes. Stainless steel inventories in China have fallen in recent days, indicating rising demand.
Stainless steel inventories in China have fallen
Stainless steel inventories in China have fallen in recent days, suggesting stronger demand, which is likely due in part to stable nickel prices. This was also reflected in stable and, in some cases, slightly rising stainless steel prices in Asia.
EU Trade Commissioner in Washington, but still no deal in sight?
The European Commissioner for Trade, Maroš Šefčovič (S&D), is currently in Washington to negotiate a much-needed trade deal with the US government for the European Union before 9 July 2025. Otherwise, according to President Trump, tariffs of 50% will come into force on all goods from the EU.
Acting Trade Commissioner without any real successes?
However, a key problem here could be that the current Trade Commissioner Šefčovič, who has held various positions for the EU since 2009, has had little success to date. Furthermore, his CV shows that the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security has no experience in trade issues or economic security to bring to his new office.
Better known for a lack of transparency and as the heir to the EU Green Deal
The Slovakian previously served as Vice-President of the European Commission for Interinstitutional Relations (2010–2014 and since 2019) and, from 2023 to 2024, as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal. Unfortunately, he cannot be credited with any real successes in terms of greater transparency, better legislation or an implementable Green Deal.
In the past, he has been accused of being too close to the lobbying interests of large corporations and of doing too little to promote transparency in the EU. He is also likely to be responsible for the fact that SMEs are not really welcome in the Commission’s expert groups – in any case, he has done nothing to change this imbalance since 2010.
No successes in interinstitutional relations?
The relationship between new regulations and repealed EU laws also shows that neither the Better Regulation principle nor the EU’s One in One out procedure have been enforced by the Commissioner.
Commissioner without any expertise in trade issues
Unfortunately, his CV suggests that narrow-mindedness and stubbornness are inevitable. We must therefore ask ourselves what the outcome will be when someone who has no expertise in trade issues and also belongs to the socialist political camp attempts to conclude a substantial deal in the customs dispute with the United States. His predecessor did not really manage to do this either. His lack of expertise is not only evident in his statements in Parliament, where he even praises EU steel makers for undermining existing market protection measures.
The fact that Šefčovič, who demonstrably had no experience in his field of activity, could be elected to such a position by Parliament at all shows that in politics it is often not competence and genuine achievements that count, but sometimes simply ‘length of service’.
We consider a vote of no confidence in the entire EU Commission and the current president, who is unfortunately still in office, to be more than appropriate. However, the reason for this is by no means to be found solely in the highly dubious vaccine deals, but rather in the inability to perform the respective responsibilities due to a lack of expertise.
The additional accusation against the Commission President of acting in a non-transparent manner (e.g. with regard to the release of text messages) is also likely to be due to a weak ‘transparency’ commissioner with no real assertiveness or interest in his field.
Is Šefčovič the right negotiating partner for the US president?
In summary, it can be said that, with regard to the negotiations between Europe and the United States, we have a so-called trade commissioner without any real expertise, who took over one of the EU’s most economically damaging programmes (the Green Deal) from his predecessor Frans Timmermans and was not prepared to abandon this programme. And in his arrogance, he is now trying to strike an incredibly important deal in the customs dispute with a stronger economy and, hopefully, still a partner of the EU – and with a president who sees the big picture and is willing to engage with it, but does not want to get lost in the minutiae of the EU Commission.
We can already imagine the result if you put the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Thorsten Gerber, CEO of the Gerber Group, said today: ‘If I were the negotiating partner in Washington, I would kick Šefčovič’s ass and demand someone who really knows what they’re talking about.’ He went on to say that: ‘Every medium-sized entrepreneur reading this should be aware that Commissioner Šefčovič is the key figure in the EU who makes life a little more difficult for us SMEs every day.’
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