The EU Commission is ready to eliminate tariffs on US industrial goods to ensure tariff relief by the US for the EU’s automotive sector starting retroactively from 1st of August.
The two proposals pave the way for implementation of the EU-US Joint Statement agreed on 21 August 2025, says the Commission. This built on the political agreement reached by Commission president von der Leyen and US president Trump on 27 July.
The EU-US deal “lays the groundwork for closer cooperation on shared challenges, turning common goals – such as those related to steel – into real results,” said Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic: “… I particularly welcome the reduction of tariffs on cars and car parts to 15%, effective August 1, which will help our automotive industry stay competitive on the global stage.”
The first act concerns a proposal to eliminate tariffs on US industrial goods and provide preferential market access for a range of US seafood and non-sensitive agricultural goods. The second one proposes to prolong the tariff-free treatment of lobster, now including processed lobster.
In line with Section 3 of the EU-US Joint Statement, the US is expected to implement the agreed 15% US tariff ceiling to EU cars and car parts.
These tariff reductions from 27.5% to 15% are expected to be effective from the first day of the same month in which the European Union’s legislative proposals are introduced, i.e. 1 August 2025. This will save car makers more than €500 million in duties that would have otherwise been paid for exports in one month only.
The US also committed to zero or near to zero tariffs on certain product categories for which only the most-favoured nation (MFN) tariff will apply, starting on 1 September (unavailable natural resources, including cork, all aircraft and aircraft parts, generic pharmaceuticals and their ingredients and chemical precursors). Both sides have agreed to work on expanding this list further.
EU-US trade in goods and services has doubled over the last decade, surpassing €1.6 trillion in 2024, with €867 billion of trade in goods and €817 billion of trade in services.
