WASHINGTON (TNND) — President Donald Trump on Friday announced he is raising tariffs on cars and trucks from the European Union to 25%, citing what he called the bloc’s “failure to comply with our fully agreed to trade deal.”
Trump said the tariff will go into effect next week.
“If they produce Cars and Trucks in U.S.A. Plants, there will be NO TARIFF. Many Automobile and Truck Plants are currently under construction, with over 100 Billion Dollars being invested,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “A RECORD in the History of Car and Truck Manufacturing.”
He added that factories staffed with American workers will be opening soon, saying there “has never been anything like what is happening in America today.”
The move marks a significant escalation from the 15% rate established under the July 2025 “Turnberry Agreement,” which was secured after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Trump’s golf course in Scotland.
Under the deal, the 27-nation bloc agreed to invest $600 billion in the U.S. by 2028, purchase $750 billion in American energy, procure $40 billion in U.S. semiconductors, and increase purchases of military equipment.
But the status of the 2025 deal was first cast into doubt after the Supreme Court ruled in February that the Republican president lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency and charge tariffs on EU goods, reducing the tariff to 10%.
“A deal is a deal,” the European Commission said in February after the Supreme Court ruling. “As the United States’ largest trading partner, the EU expects the U.S. to honor its commitments set out in the Joint Statement — just as the EU stands by its commitments. EU products must continue to benefit from the most competitive treatment, with no increases in tariffs beyond the clear and all-inclusive ceiling previously agreed.”