On Thursday afternoon, the European Commission (EC) submitted two proposals to prepare the way to implement the joint statement of the EU and the US on duties from 21 August 2025. Both proposals are the first steps to implement customs policy and ensure a reduction in US duties for a vital EU automotive sector with backward validity from August 1. This is informed by TASR.
The Commission recalled that these steps They contribute to the restoration of stability and predictability in business and investment relations between the EU and the US for the benefit of businesses, workers and citizens on both sides of the Atlantic.
The first decision concerns the proposal to Cancellation of duties to industrial goods from the US and providing preferential access to the market for a wide range of US seafood and agricultural goods. The second proposal proposes to extend the duty -free treatment of lobsters, including processed lobsters.
The EC proposals represent the necessary legislative step to reduce EU duties set out in the joint statement of the EU and the US. The European Parliament and the EU Council (Member States) must approve both proposals within the regular legislative procedure before the reduction of duties comes into effect. In accordance with the provisions of the joint statement, the US is expected to introduce an agreed 15% customs ceiling for cars and car components from the EU.
It is expected that reducing duties from 27.5 % to 15 % will come into effect from the first day of the month in which the EU legislative proposals were submitted, ie from August 1, 2025. European car manufacturers will save more than € 500 million on duties that would otherwise pay for exports in one month.
The US has committed themselves in a joint statement to zero or almost zero duties for certain product categories, which will be subject to the highest benefits from 1 September – unavailable natural resources including cork, aircraft and their components, generic drugs and their components and chemical precursors. Both parties want to expand this list in the future.
The EU and the USA, 21 August, issued a joint statement on transatlantic trade and investment, which confirms the political agreement between the President of the EC Ursula von Der Leyen and US President Donald Trump of 27 July.
The Commission noted that Transatlantic partnership is a key arterial of global trade, When trade in goods and services between the EU and the US has doubled over the last decade and exceeded EUR 1.6 trillion in 2024. The goods trade has reached EUR 867 billion and a service with services with EUR 817 billion. This represents more than € 4.2 billion for goods and services that exceed the Atlantic Ocean daily.
