EU Rejects US Pressure on Supply Chain Laws Amid Tariff Evasion Claims

The European Union rebuffed renewed trade pressure from the United States on Friday, August 14, 2026, rejecting American demands to roll back its flagship environmental and human rights supply chain laws. The confrontation escalated as Washington accused Brussels of enabling Chinese evasion of U.S. tariffs and threatened potential action.

U.S. Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder called on the bloc to align its Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) with the EU-U.S. trade deal established last year. "Now its time for the EU to deliver," Puzder stated in a post on X, attaching a U.S. government document outlining concerns. The document warned that the United States "will take any actions necessary to address unreasonable burdens on US commerce absent a solution that addresses these concerns."

The CSDDD requires large companies to address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their global supply chains, while the CSRD mandates disclosure of climate impacts and emissions. The U.S. document argued these directives' "extraterritorial reach and costly and onerous supply chain due diligence obligations...