Washington (United States) (AFP) – President Donald Trump said Friday that he will hike US tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union next week, charging that the bloc is not complying with an earlier trade deal. The pact, which was struck last summer, had capped the US tariff on EU autos and parts at 15 percent, which is lower than the 25-percent duty that Trump imposed on many other trading partners. These sector-specific duties were not affected by a Supreme Court ruling earlier in the year that struck down a swath of Trump’s global levies.
But the US leader said Friday: “Based on the fact the European Union is not complying with our fully agreed to Trade Deal, next week I will be increasing Tariffs charged to the European Union for Cars and Trucks coming into the United States.” “The Tariff will be increased to 25%,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. Trump did not say how he believed the EU is failing to live up to the trade deal or give a further reason for the planned hike.
However, the announcement came a day after his renewed criticism of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Trump told Merz to focus on ending the Ukraine war instead of “interfering” on Iran. Germany would likely be hit hard by a sharp tariff on cars and parts, as it is responsible for a significant amount of EU auto exports. In late March, EU lawmakers gave their green light to the bloc’s tariff deal with Trump, but with conditions. While many EU lawmakers agreed to cut EU tariffs on some US imports, as a first step towards implementing the 2025 deal, they also sought additional safeguards.
While the European Parliament has given its conditional approval to the EU-US trade pact, before the deal is implemented by the bloc, it still needs to be negotiated with EU states. In April, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic was in Washington to meet with counterparts including US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and trade envoy Jamieson Greer. At the time, he said that the EU was also seeking more progress in easing the effects of still-steep US steel tariffs, adding that talks were going in a positive direction.
The United States is the second largest market for new EU vehicle exports, after the United Kingdom, according to a 2025 fact sheet by the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Over a fifth of EU vehicle exports went to the United States. Germany alone exported some 450,000 vehicles to the United States in 2024, according to the VDA industry group. But that figure has since slipped.
© 2024 AFP
