Europe and the United States are launching new legislative sessions in tandem, each taking an inward look with distinct priorities. In the United States, Donald Trump returns to the White House with a protectionist tilt anchored in tariffs, while the European Union pursues industrial autonomy it has championed since before the COVID-19 pandemic. This happens amid a geostrategic backdrop that includes the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and a more assertive China. To protect markets and carve a path forward in this challenging landscape, the European Parliament is pushing a broad set of laws, including steps to curb environmental greenwashing, a practice where some companies claim their products are eco-friendly when they are not. At the same time, another directive aims to regulate e-commerce shipments from China that price below market levels and bypass European safety standards.
A leading European policy advocate describes environmental washing as a new and dangerous marketing tactic used by many firms. The committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection leads the work on consumer protection and aims to strengthen digital equity while curbing the market power of large tech platforms that can abuse it to the detriment of consumers. The advocate cites vivid examples such as a teddy bear eye that can be swallowed or a mobile phone battery that can explode. In parallel, the European Commission has opened enforcement actions against Temu and AliExpress for alleged illegal products and for design features that may be addictive and for how consumer data is handled.
Greenwashing
It is estimated that more than half the products marketed in the EU as eco-friendly rely on vague, misleading, or unsubstantiated environmental claims. Terms such as natural, organic, or eco-friendly have proliferated across products from facial creams to furniture. The European Parliament has set a goal to end this practice that prevents citizens from making informed choices and creates unfair competition for companies that genuinely meet their environmental promises.
The Parliament asserts that environmental claims must be justified so they are reliable, comparable, and verifiable. The mechanism to enforce this, including whether a dedicated regulator will be established and what penalties will apply, remains under negotiation as part of the directive on explicit environmental claims.
Temu and Aliexpress
Every day, more than ten million packages enter the EU from outside its borders, mostly from Asia, with private consumers as the final recipients in a surge of Chinese e-commerce, according to a senior EU parliamentarian who chairs the consumer committee. The scale makes reviewing every package virtually impossible given limited resources. In addition, current rules exempt shipments with a value under 150 euros from customs duties, letting many deliveries reach European households without screening. This gap is seen as a potential health and safety risk since it is unclear whether these goods meet European standards.
The proposed solution, backed by a Renew Europe member of the European Parliament, is to conduct a safety check of products at their origin. If adopted, this approach could be echoed by the United States, which faces a similar challenge. Observers see a possible opening for pragmatic cooperation, where both sides acknowledge shared risks and seek workable agreements. The discussion also touches on how trade policy could respond to protectionist moves, with reciprocity guiding any future steps. In this view, a pragmatic stance could open avenues for mutual understanding and safer, fairer cross-border trade.