The EU digs in its heels at 15%: "Investments are non-binding." US tariffs on gold bars.

Different percentages, certainties hanging by a thread, mutual trust struggling to take off . Donald Trump's 15% tariffs on European products have officially come into effect, but the EU Commission still feels like it's having to navigate the situation by sight. And even the patient officials at the Berlaymont building are starting to show signs of impatience. The US president's new threat of 100% tariffs on semiconductors hasn't gone down well in Brussels. "For us, the 15% agreement also applies to pharmaceuticals and chips," the EU executive pointed out, also taking issue with another point dear to the tycoon: the billions destined to flow to the US. "The promised investments are not binding," is the red line drawn by Ursula von der Leyen.

Meanwhile, the United States has imposed tariffs on imports of one-kilogram gold bars, a move that threatens to disrupt the global market and deal a new blow to Switzerland, the world's largest refining hub. The Financial Times reports exclusively. One-kilogram bars are the most common form traded on Comex, the world's largest gold futures market, and constitute the majority of Switzerland's bullion exports to the United States. Relations between Washington and Bern deteriorated after Donald Trump announced a 39% tariff on imports from the country last week. The tariff decision has dealt "another blow" to Swiss gold trade with the United States, Christoph Wild, president of the Swiss Association of Producers and Traders of Precious Metals, told the Financial Times. Wild added that the tariffs on gold will make it difficult to meet demand for the metal.

The feeling is that, even though August 7th is behind us, we'll continue to thrash about in the stormy sea of tariffs. Washington has now adopted them as a geopolitical weapon, and Brussels is perfectly aware of this. The Commission's goal is to reach a joint declaration as soon as possible, to finally provide direction to an increasingly turbulent industrial fabric. The joint text "is on Washington's table, the ball is in their court," and "we expect them to help us move forward," said Commission spokesman Olof Gill. In other words, what's missing is Trump's green light.

The timing, it was said, remains an unknown. Suffice it to say that, within the Commission, it wasn't even clear when the 15% tariffs would take effect. In recent days, the forecast was that the tariff would be effective between August 7th and 8th. That didn't happen. "From what we understand," the US tariffs "came into effect today," Gill explained. It's better, then, to proceed step by step. For the auto sector, for example, Brussels expects the White House to issue an executive order "within days" cutting the tariff rate from 27.5% to 15%, essential for softening the impact of the tariffs on a sector that, according to the Wall Street Journal, is already worth €12 billion. On pharmaceuticals and chips, the Commission expected a tariff equal to the Most Favored Nation tariff (4.8%) at least until Washington's investigations were concluded. But the US executive order contains no exceptions. The result is total uncertainty.

In light of all this, the EU is starting to dot the i's and cross the t's on the €1.35 trillion (€600 billion overall, €750 billion in energy purchases) of investments that von der Leyen promised Trump in Scotland. "These commitments are not binding: the Commission does not have the power to enforce them. However, these are intentions expressed in good faith, after consulting our industries and member states to gain a clear picture of the prospects," Gill reiterated. He simultaneously issued a warning and acknowledged: it is almost impossible for all businesses in all 27 member states to willingly accept Trump's diktats.

Overall, the Commission's position on the validity of the July 27 agreement remains unchanged. But new shadows are looming on the horizon. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Reuters, has instructed US diplomats in Europe to launch a lobbying campaign to stir up opposition to the Digital Services Act, with the aim of securing individual governments' approval to amend or repeal the European law, hated by Big Tech. The EU has always maintained that the DSA is not part of an agreement with the US. "Rubio's sabotage attempt is unacceptable. We Europeans make the rules in Europe. And we enforce them," protested Sandro Gozi of Renew Europe. The matter seems only postponed until September, when—among other things—von der Leyen intends to definitively accelerate the EU-Mercosur agreement, a potential cornerstone of an anti-Trump trade alliance that is also being timidly considered in Europe.