The European Union and United States have made a deal.
After months of seesawing tariffs announcements on the E.U., the two groups have preliminarily agreed upon a 15 percent tax on goods from the European Union entering the U.S, The New York Times reported.
That 15 percent benchmark is lower that the initial 25 percent levy that President Trump placed on foreign cars back in April; and it’s the same tax that’s been placed on Japanese exporters. Brands that will feel the impact include Audi, which makes all its creations in Ingolstadt, Germany; Bugatti, which builds its hypercars in Molsheim, France; and Ferrari, which brings its cars to life in Italy—and who also will raise the prices of some of its models by 10 percent to offset the levies.
Germany as a whole will be largely impacted by the new tax: The nation is one of the top E.U. exporters of autos to U.S. soil, according to the publication. Germany is also a leader of the pack when it comes to exporting steel stateside. The 50 percent tariff that Trump placed on steel globally was not a part of the deal, a senior U.S. official said.
Production in the E.U., says Julian Hinz, an economist at the Keil Institute for the World Economy, is predicted to fall by .11 percent under the new tariff compare to the levy of old, The New York Times reported. Another category that will see changes is French beauty. Perfumes and other cosmetics from the nation, like Dior and Sisley, currently face no tariffs upon entering the U.S. Now, in the wake of that 15 percent levy, prices will go up, posing a “significant threat” to the industry, Emmanuel Guichard, head of a French trade group called the Federation of Beauty Companies, told the publication; the move may also impact jobs in the sector, he said.
As for wine and spirits—which the U.S. had announced a 200 percent tariff on imports in the category earlier this year—there’s not yet an update on whether the industry will be exempt from the new tariff. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the topic will be “sorted out in the next days,” according to NYT.
Authors
-
Nicole Hoey
Nicole Hoey is Robb Report’s digital editor. While studying at Boston University, she read, wrote and read some more as an English and journalism major. A class taught by a Boston Globe copy editor…