The European Union struck a provisional agreement on Wednesday on legislation to remove import duties on U.S. goods, a key part of the trade deal reached with Washington last July, in a move likely to avert higher U.S. tariffs on EU products.
Under the terms of the deal struck at U.S. President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland last July, the EU agreed to remove import duties on U.S. industrial goods and grant preferential access to U.S. farm and sea produce. In exchange, the United States would impose tariffs of 15% on most EU goods.
Nearly 10 months since that framework accord, the European Parliament and the Council, the body representing EU governments, agreed on a legislative text, paving the way for the EU duty reductions to enter force with safeguards in case Trump reneges on the agreement.
“I welcome the agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on reducing tariffs for US industrial exports to the EU. This means we will soon deliver on our part of the EU-US Joint Statement, as promised. I now call on the co-legislators to move swiftly and finalise the process,” wrote European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on X.
“Together, we can ensure stable, predictable, balanced, and mutually beneficial transatlantic trade,” she added.
TRUMP SET JULY 4 DEADLINE
Zeljana Zovko, the lead trade negotiator in the European People’s Party group on the U.S. deal, also wrote on X that the agreement would provide a more stable framework for EU-US trade relations while leaving room for further discussions on unresolved issues, particularly in the steel and aluminium sector.
Trump has said he would impose much higher tariffs on EU goods including cars if the European Union did not implement its trade deal commitments by July 4, having earlier threatened to raise tariffs on EU car imports to 25% from the current 15%.
EU lawmakers had twice paused the required legislation after Trump’s threats to impose new tariffs on European allies who did not back his proposed acquisition of Greenland and after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his global tariffs.
The bloc should now meet Trump’s July 4 deadline, with a final vote of approval in the European Parliament expected in mid-June.
EU lawmakers had wanted tougher safeguards, including a “sunrise clause” under which the EU would only cut duties when the United States fulfilled its side of the deal, the possibility to suspend the deal if the U.S. breached the terms, and a “sunset clause” to end EU tariff concessions on March 31, 2028.
EU governments had less appetite for inserting such items, concerned they could antagonise the Trump administration and create uncertainty for EU businesses.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop)
