The European Commission has reached “the best deal we could get under very difficult circumstances” with the United States, summed up the European Commissioner for trade, Maroš Šefčovič, on Monday 28 July. The agreement significantly increases US tariffs for Europeans - now set at 15% for most products - compared with the tariffs applied before Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. It does, however, make it possible to avoid the punitive rate of 30%, stress many players.
A very imperfect agreement. Until April 2025, European exports were taxed at an average rate of 4,8% in the United States. With this agreement, praised by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the EU has signed a deal under which 70% of its exports will be subject to a tariff of 15%, while it will accept most US products at much lower rates.
“For my part, I see an asymmetry set in stone”, lamented the Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, Bernd Lange (S&D, German).
His EPP colleague, Sweden’s Jörgen Warborn, said he was totally opposed to the 15% tariff, which for him violates world trade rules.
For French Prime Minister François Bayrou, the EU is “resigning itself to submission” with such an agreement.
Company representatives welcome a solution that saves the furniture and brings a hint of stability. However, the organisations regret that the situation remains unfavourable for exporters.
The reductions obtained for Europeans. The European Commission insists that it has secured an agreement for zero tariffs on aircraft, machinery, chemicals, fertilisers, critical raw materials and certain agricultural products. Discussions are still ongoing on these sectors.
As for steel and aluminium exports, they were the subject of an agreement in principle on Sunday 27 July, which has yet to be detailed: the two parties agreed to set tariff quotas on European exports to the United States, which would reflect “historical export levels”.
Below the quotas, these products would be taxed at the traditional “most-favoured nation” rate (MFN tariff), i.e. at less than 5%. Above the set volume, European steel and aluminium would be taxed at 15%. At present, and until quotas are stopped, these products are still subject to a 50% duty in the United States.
The solution found limits the damage, according to the sector’s representative, Eurofer, which nevertheless insists that “the impact on European steel remains dramatic as long as 50% tariffs are applied”.
Another important sector for Europeans is pharmaceuticals - their fate is not yet clear, given that Washington is currently investigating imports of these products. The red line is set at 15% for the EU, which hopes that the tariff will be even lower. Pending completion of the investigation, pharmaceutical products are exempt from US tariffs.
European concessions. To convince the Americans, the European Commission pledged, on behalf of the EU’s economic players, $750 billion in energy purchases and $600 billion in additional investment in the United States. According to a European official, this will be reflected in the joint declaration by the “intention” of private players to buy LNG and US nuclear power, and to invest across the Atlantic.
“They’re agreeing to purchase a vast amount of military equipment”, Donald Trump also declared after his meeting with Ursula von der Leyen.
Ms von der Leyen also cited US AI chips, which could “help power our AI gigafactories and help the US to maintain their technological edge”.
Translation into action. The terms agreed on Sunday 27 July are to be materialised over the next few days in a non-binding joint declaration, followed by executive orders on the US side. The EU will then work to translate the decisions into legislation to bring certain European customs duties to zero, as agreed.
The Commission is analysing its options for transposing these decisions and is considering using the “autonomous trade measures” tool, which it has already used to liberalise trade with Ukraine. These can be adopted by means of an implementing regulation, enabling them to be adopted quickly under the comitology procedure. Only a majority of Member States against the implementing regulation could bring it down. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)