The European Parliament should ensure that the European Union’s flagship corporate accountability law, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), does not become a victim of the EU-US trade deal.
The framework of the deal, released August 21, 2025, includes language committing the EU to ensure the law “does not pose undue restrictions on transatlantic trade.” EU and US governments have begun negotiations to carry out the agreement.
The EU’s corporate accountability law, which entered into force in July 2024, requires large companies operating in the EU to mitigate climate impacts and to tackle human rights and environmental harm in their supply chains.
US companies have lobbied President Donald Trump to weaken the law as part of trade negotiations with the EU, with fossil fuel companies particularly criticizing the impact of the law’s climate obligations on their businesses.
EU member states, as part of an existing “Omnibus proposal” that undermines key aspects of the law, have already proposed diluting the law’s climate requirements. The framework of the trade deal also states that the EU will propose changes to the law’s “climate-related transition obligations.”
Following the publication of the framework, the American Petroleum Institute, an oil and gas industry lobby group, thanked the Trump administration “for standing up against the EU’s CSDDD” and stated that, “as negotiations continue, protecting U.S. interests from burdensome regulations must remain a priority.” As part of the trade deal, the EU also agreed to procure US fossil fuel and nuclear energy products worth $750 billion through 2028, a major blow to the EU’s climate goals.
The EU’s planned revisions to the due diligence directive will soon be up for a vote at the European Parliament.
EU lawmakers should make it clear that they will fight to keep the key elements of the EU’s flagship corporate accountability law. Pressure from the US government and the fossil industry should not compromise a law vital to EU citizens’ right to a healthy environment and to providing redress to victims of corporate abuses.
