Overview
- EU negotiators from Parliament and the 27 member states met in Strasbourg on Tuesday to try to seal an August 2025 deal that would cap most US duties on EU goods at 15% in exchange for the EU scrapping tariffs on US industrial products and easing farm access.
- President Trump has threatened to raise US tariffs on EU cars to 25% and set July 4 as the deadline for EU action, a move that would break the 2025 terms and would likely hit German automakers the most.
- Lawmakers want the EU’s tariff cuts to be conditional so the European Commission can restore them if Washington raises duties or targets an EU country, and they propose a sunset at the end of March 2028.
- Parliament softened earlier demands by dropping a requirement to fix US steel and aluminum tariffs first and by giving EU governments more say over any suspension of the cuts.
- US duties now include a 10% surcharge on most EU goods on top of average regular tariffs of 4.8%, with autos at 15% and steel and aluminum at 50%, and US court rulings have added legal uncertainty as the EU keeps a €93 billion retaliation list in reserve.