The United States has clinched a significant trade deal with the European Union, widely hailed as a major win for President Trump.
The agreement imposes a 15% U.S. tariff on EU goods, higher than pre-April “Liberation Day” rates and above the UK’s favorable 10% tariff. The 15% rate applies to many key European exports, including EU carmakers, who avoid the harsher 25% global tariff introduced in April. Meanwhile, EU steel and aluminum will continue to face a steep 50% U.S. tariff.
In a major coup for the U.S., the EU has agreed to open its markets to American exports at zero tariffs, a move Trump celebrated as a game-changer. The deal is projected to generate approximately $90 billion in tariff revenue for the U.S. based on last year’s trade figures.
Additionally, the EU committed to purchasing hundreds of billions in U.S. energy products and military equipment, with Trump announcing $600 billion in EU investment in the U.S., including American arms and military equipment, and a whopping $750 billion in energy purchases. Following last week’s successful Japan tariffs deal, this agreement marks another triumph for Trump’s trade agenda, strengthening U.S. economic leverage and boosting government coffers.
Andrew Gray and Andrea Shalal for Reuters:
U.S. President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the deal at Trump’s luxury golf course in western Scotland after an hour-long meeting that pushed the hard-fought deal over the line, following months of negotiations.
“I think this is the biggest deal ever made,” Trump told reporters, lauding EU plans to invest some $600 billion in the United States and dramatically increase its purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment.
Trump said the deal, which tops a $550 billion deal signed with Japan last week, would expand ties between the trans-Atlantic powers after years of what he called unfair treatment of U.S. exporters.
Von der Leyen, describing Trump as a tough negotiator, said the 15% tariff applied “across the board”, later telling reporters it was “the best we could get.”
The deal, which Trump said calls for $750 billion of EU purchases of U.S. energy in coming years and “hundreds of billions of dollars” of arms purchases, likely spells good news for a host of EU companies, including Airbus, Mercedes-Benz, and Novo Nordisk… Trump retains the ability to increase the tariffs in the future if European countries do not live up to their investment commitments, a senior U.S. administration official told reporters on Sunday evening.
Jonathan Josephs and Peter Hoskins for The Beeb:
Ultimately it took leaders from Washington and Brussels to sit down face to face to reach Sunday’s agreement.
That’s something we’ve also seen with the other deals that President Donald Trump has struck – his personal involvement is what has pushed them over the line – even when the prospects of a breakthrough did not seem bright.
For Trump, still feeling the glow from last week’s tariffs deal with Japan, the announcement marks another major victory…
Going into the talks the EU’s bargaining position faced major challenges.
Running the risk of a trade war with the world’s biggest economy did not come at an ideal time.
Europe’s economic growth has been sluggish and just last week the European Central Bank warned that “the environment remains exceptionally uncertain, especially because of trade disputes.” This deal removes some of that uncertainty…
This deal shows how serious President Trump is about renegotiating how the US, the world’s biggest economy, does business with everyone else.
Given the EU consists of 27 very different countries, it has seemed one of the trickier trade agreements to pull off.It comes days after the US struck another major agreement with Japan – there have also been deals with the UK, Vietnam, and Indonesia.
The other big ones still on the table are with the three biggest individual US trade partners – Mexico, Canada, and China.
With the US president in a deal-making mood, there could be more positive news for the global economy over the next 48 hours.
MacDailyNews Take: The EU had no choice. We explained why back in April:
The United States of America is the far and away No.1 economy on this planet, with nominal GDP of $30.34 trillion. China is a distant number two with $19.53 trillion, followed by Germany ($4.92T), Japan ($4.39T), and India ($4.27T).
If countries want unfettered access to sell their goods and services into the world’s preeminent economy, they should, at the very least, provide unfettered American access into their far lesser economies. (In pure business terms, they should actually pay for the privilege of selling in America’s rich environment).
Any country that wants to try to forgo America by keeping or increasing their import tariffs, have at it. They’ll be begging for access sooner than later.
Anyone who thinks Americans can’t make or get whatever they want/need without importing it from any other country, failed history 101.
In 2024, the EU’s nominal GDP was reported by the World Bank to be $19.423 trillion; China-sized, but still dwarfed by the American economy.
Here is a list of the top 5 consumer markets by country, based on household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) in U.S. dollar value (consumer spending):
1. United States: ~$18.8 trillion
2. China: ~$7.0 trillion
3. Japan: ~$2.5 trillion
4. Germany: ~$2.3 trillion
5. India: ~$2.2 trillionAdd up the 2nd – 5th consumer markets on earth and they still total $4.4 trillion less than the U.S.
Annualized estimates based on quarterly figures suggest the EU’s total HFCE for 2024 is roughly $10 trillion, though exact annual figures are not yet finalized.
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