The European Commission is maintaining the course set by the EU-US agreement in July. On Thursday 28 August, it published two texts implementing the terms of the agreement on the European side. The aim of the two proposed regulations is, as promised, to eliminate customs duties on American industrial goods, while also further opening up the European market for certain American agricultural products deemed non-sensitive.
By taking this first step, the European Commission has fulfilled its obligations to ensure that the United States, for its part, reduces tariffs on European vehicles to 15%, with retroactive effect from 1 August (see EUROPE 13695/1).
When asked about recent threats by US President Donald Trump that could affect the EU’s digital rules, European Commission spokesperson Arianna Podestà said that the agreement signed in July was not affected.
In her view, the US President’s post on the Truth social network (see EUROPE 13695/1) is apparently not aimed at the EU: “We are extremely confident that there is no reference to the EU”. The agreement and its pricing terms are therefore maintained.
A senior European official agreed with this viewpoint on Thursday evening: the agreement does not address the issue of digital legislation and the EU remains focused on what has been agreed.
Proposed concessions. The first regulation proposed by the European Commission brings customs duties to zero for all US industrial exports to the EU, as well as on a few US agricultural products (certain fruit and vegetables, seafood, juices) that are considered non-sensitive for the EU (Annex I of the regulation).
For some fruit and vegetables, however, the European Commission is maintaining specific customs duties (often calculated per unit rather than as a percentage), which are linked to entry price rules. In other words, their tariffs will be lowered, but not completely reduced to zero. This is the case for tomatoes and around twenty other products (Annex II).
Finally, for a third list of agricultural products, the text reduces customs duties but does not abolish them completely, achieving this by means of tariff quotas. These include certain fruits and vegetables or fruit juices, nuts and seeds, as well as pork and bison meat (Annex III). Below a certain fixed volume, these goods can enter duty-free.
See the regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/I6K ; and the products covered by these tariff reductions in Annexes I, II and III to the regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/I6L
The second proposed regulation, which was published on 28 August, aims to permanently extend the abolition of tariffs on American lobster. The proposal also extends this treatment to processed lobster. The suspension of customs duties on American lobster was adopted in 2020, before being suspended on 31 July this year.
In its regulations, the European Commission also provides for the reimbursement of fares paid since 1 August.
See the text: https://aeur.eu/f/i6i ; and its appendix: https://aeur.eu/f/i6j
Option to suspend concessions at any time. In the two proposed regulations, the European Commission has included a suspension clause. “Where the United States fails to implement the Joint Statement or otherwise undermines the objectives pursued by the Joint Statement, or undermines access of Union economic operators to the United States market, or otherwise disrupts the trade and investment relationship between the Union and the United States”, the EU will be able to withdraw all or part of these concessions.
In the first regulation, the Commission has also added another scenario for suspension, which is similar to the usual safeguard clauses: a situation where the suppression of tariffs leads to an excessive influx of certain products that could harm EU industry.
This precaution is absolutely unnecessary in the case of lobster, explained a senior European official. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)