US-EU trade deal opens door to dangerous trucks
A new framework for trade agreed between the EU and US risks watering down EU road safety standards and flooding EU roads with large, dangerous US trucks and pick-ups.
The framework, agreed on 21 August, covers many aspects of trade, but section 8 refers to trade in automobiles and confirms the worst fears of experts: “the United States and the European Union intend to accept and provide mutual recognition to each other’s standards”.
US vehicle safety standards are lower than those in the EU with life-saving technologies such as automated emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance and pedestrian protection required in the EU but not required in the US.
Moreover, the large pick-up style trucks popular in the US are typically much bigger than even the largest SUVs currently for sale in the EU, with higher bonnets (known to be a significant risk factor), flatter bonnets and reduced visibility.
US-style pick-ups like the RAM suffer from reduced driver visibility due to raised bonnets, putting other road users at risk.
“A betrayal”
Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director of the European Transport Safety Council said the deal was “a betrayal of Europe’s safety leadership, and it will cost lives”, and went on to say that the agreement is “completely out of step with Europe’s vision for safer, more sustainable mobility.”
US road deaths are far higher than in the EU average. Between 2013 and 2022, pedestrian road deaths in the US rose by 50%; other advanced economies saw a 25% decrease over the same period.
Silver lining
One silver lining is that UK tax rules for large pick-ups were revised earlier this year so that owners of such vehicles no longer receive commercial tax breaks and consequently pay much higher tax rates, which may discourage people from buying them in the future.
Unfortunately, the UK remains a relative tax haven for SUVs in general, with buyers of the largest SUVs in some cases paying just 0.5% of the tax on a new car that a buyer of the same vehicle would pay in France or Denmark.
The SUV Alliance continues to call for reform to Vehicle Excise Duty so that new vehicles are taxed on their weight, in addition to exhaust emissions, and for revised vehicles safety standards so that no new car can be sold in this country with a a bonnet above 85 cm in height.