EU strikes deal on US trade pact ahead of Trump tariff deadline

The European Union reached a late-night provisional deal on Tuesday to remove import duties on US goods, a key part of the bloc's trade pact with the United States.

This kept the EU on track to meet President Donald Trump's July 4 deadline and avoid higher US tariffs on European goods.

"I am proud to announce that Europe has avoided a ‌damaging escalation of transatlantic trade tensions and protected European companies, investments and millions of jobs on ‌both sides ​of the Atlantic," Zeljana Zovko, the lead trade negotiator in the European People’s Party group on the US deal, said in an X post announcing the deal.

"Today, the European Union delivers on its commitments," Cyprus's Energy, Commerce and Industry Minister Michael Damianos, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said in a statement announcing the deal.

"Maintaining a stable, predictable and balanced transatlantic partnership is in the interest of both sides," he said.

What do we know about the US-EU trade deal?

The US-EU trade deal was agreed upon in July last year, after months of tariff uncertainty. Here are some of the most important things to know about it:

• The agreement imposes a 15% US tariff on most EU exports
• The EU pledged €514 billion ($596.3 billion) in investment into the United States, its largest trading partner
• The deal reduced the 25% tariff imposed on European automakers in April 2025
• Before President Donald Trump's second term, the tariff on European autos stood at 2.5%
• The agreement helps the EU avoid a broader trade war that could  hurt business confidence and consumer spending on both sides of the Atlantic
• Several European political and business leaders criticized the deal as harmful to the 27-member bloc
• The EU had initially pushed for a lower 10% tariff rate
• In February, EU lawmakers delayed approval of the deal amid uncertainty over Trump's tariff policies
• The delay followed a US Supreme Court ruling that struck down many of Trump's earlier global tariffs
• Trump later imposed a new blanket 15% tariff in response to the court ruling

What concessions did the EU make?

EU lawmakers softened several demands during negotiations, including a proposal to suspend favorable tariffs for US exporters if Washington breached the terms of the deal.

The final text also gives the US until the end of the year to remove steel surtaxes above 15%, instead of making it a precondition for the agreement.

Lawmakers of the bloc had also pushed for stronger so-called "sunrise" and "sunset" clauses under which the EU would only cut duties when the ⁠US fulfilled its side of the deal and to end EU tariff concessions on March 31, 2028.

The sunrise clause was removed altogether, while the sunset was pushed back to the end of 2029, lawmakers said.

"There is a suspension mechanism if the US does not abide by the deal, a monitoring mechanism for the impact on our economy, provisions for unjustified tariffs on certain products, an expiry date for the legislation, and strong involvement of the European Parliament," Bernd Lange, the head of Parliament's trade committee, said.

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Edited by: Rana Taha