The EU has given way to the controversial tariff agreement with the United States. After several, and amid pressure from Donald Trump to accelerate the entry into force of the pact, the negotiators of the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission have reached an agreement in the early hours of Tuesday to Wednesday on the final text, which calls for eliminating taxes on a good number of American products and granting preferential access to several agricultural goods that arrive from that country to the community bloc. In exchange, according to the controversial pact signed last summer, the United States imposes 15% tariffs on .
The agreement has taken 10 months to come together, since Trump and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, shook hands at the Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, owned by Trump. Since then, it had been delayed. Above all, due to the reluctance of the European Parliament, which at the beginning of the year blocked it due to the American’s annexation threats to Greenland, an autonomous territory part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and due to the attacks on European countries that participated in military maneuvers in support of the enormous Arctic island coveted by Trump.
📌 DEAL
The and have just reached a provisional agreement on two regulations enacting the EU’s tariff reductions set in the EU-US Joint Statement.
The agreement aims at:
✅ enhancing a stable and predictable trade relationship
✅ ensuring robust…— Cyprus Presidency of the Council of the EU 2026 (@CY2026EU)
Since that episode, European Parliament negotiators demanded the introduction of several safeguard clauses stating that the EU would only reduce tariffs when the United States fulfilled its part of the agreement, adding the possibility of suspending the pact if Washington does not respect it and a review to end European tariff concessions in 2028.
These protection clauses have been a point of friction with the EU Council negotiators (who represent the Member States) and with the Commission. Neither the capitals nor Brussels want to introduce elements that could anger Trump and they assure that the EU already has tools available to stop the agreement in case of problems.
The United States began implementing the agreement reached in Scotland at the end of last July, almost from the beginning. These means that it applied the 15% tariff to almost all European imports (steel and aluminum products were left out of the pact, to which 50% tariffs continue to be applied) and other entries that it considers strategic do not charge any customs rate or a lower one.
However, this architecture was blown up when the Supreme Court declared illegal the massive tariffs that the Trump Administration had imposed, that is, those affected by the Turnberry agreement. To avoid this ruling, the White House resorted to a temporary rule that maintains that 15% while waiting for Congress to approve a final rule.
The obligations assumed by the EU had a part that required legal changes and another that did not – investment commitments and the purchase of raw materials and fuels. And it was the latter that has been delayed for months. In addition to the slower times that the European Parliament usually requires, Trump’s threats were added against the European countries that sent soldiers to the small military maneuvers that Denmark organized in Greenland after one of the threatening broadsides from the United States about taking over the island by force.
The attitude of the real estate magnate caused the processing of the agreement in the European Parliament to slow down for a couple of months. And that has been causing successive delays in the final negotiation of the text with the Council of the EU.
This European delay provoked the impatience of President Trump, who a few weeks ago threatened the EU (again) with imposing a 25% tariff on European cars if everything was not ready by mid-May. Finally, a phone call between the American and President Von der Leyen to the community block until July 4.
With the approval of the agreement, the EU eliminates tariffs on a limited amount of American agricultural products, such as soybean oil. It also maintains zero tariffs on imports of some varieties of lobster. In addition, cars coming from the other side of the Atlantic would have a large tariff reduction.
