{"id":243154,"date":"2025-07-06T17:04:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T17:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/243154\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T17:04:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T17:04:13","slug":"the-european-union-and-fans-of-its-products-wait-to-hear-how-high-trump-will-set-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/243154\/","title":{"rendered":"The European Union and fans of its products wait to hear how high Trump will set tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) \u2014 The European Union expects to find out on Monday whether President Donald Trump<\/a> will impose punishing tariffs on America\u2019s largest trade partner<\/a> in a move economists have warned would have repercussions for companies and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

Trump imposed a 20% import tax on all EU-made products in early April as part of a set of tariffs<\/a> targeting countries with which the United States has a trade imbalance<\/a>. Hours after the nation-specific duties took effect, he put them on hold until July 9 at a standard rate of 10% to quiet financial markets and allow time for negotiations. <\/p>\n

Expressing displeasure with the EU\u2019s stance in trade talks, however, Trump said he would increase the tariff rate<\/a> for European exports to 50%, which could make everything \u2014 from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals \u2014 much more expensive in the U.S. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Wheels<\/p>\n

Wheels of Parmesan cheese are stored in a deli in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino, File)<\/p>\n

Wheels of Parmesan cheese are stored in a deli in Rome, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2019. (AP Photo\/Alessandra Tarantino, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

The EU\u2019s executive commission, which handles trade issues for the bloc\u2019s 27-member nations, said its leaders hope to strike a deal with the Trump administration. Without one, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate<\/a> with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes<\/a>. <\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNN\u2019s \u201cState of the Union\u201d program on Sunday that \u201cthe EU was very slow in coming to the table\u201d but that talks were now making \u201cvery good progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here are important things to know about trade between the United States and the European Union. <\/p>\n

US-EU trade is enormous<\/p>\n

The European Commission describes the trade between the U.S. and the EU as \u201cthe most important commercial relationship in the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

The value of EU-U.S. trade in goods and services amounted to 1.7 trillion euros ($2 trillion) in 2024, or an average of 4.6 billion euros a day, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.<\/p>\n

The biggest U.S. export to Europe was crude oil, followed by pharmaceuticals, aircraft, automobiles, and medical and diagnostic equipment. <\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s biggest exports to the U.S. were pharmaceuticals, cars, aircraft, chemicals, medical instruments, and wine and spirits. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A worker tends to a vineyard in the southern France region of Provence, Friday Oct. 11, 2019. (AP Photo\/Daniel Cole, File)<\/p>\n

A worker tends to a vineyard in the southern France region of Provence, Friday Oct. 11, 2019. (AP Photo\/Daniel Cole, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

EU sells more to the US than vice versa<\/p>\n

Trump has complained about the EU\u2019s 198 billion-euro trade surplus in goods, which shows Americans buy more stuff from European businesses than the other way around. <\/p>\n

However, American companies fill some of the gap by outselling the EU when it comes to services such as cloud computing, travel bookings, and legal and financial services. <\/p>\n

The U.S. services surplus took the nation\u2019s trade deficit with the EU down to 50 billion euros ($59 billion), which represents less than 3% of overall U.S.-EU trade. <\/p>\n

What are the issues dividing the two sides?<\/p>\n

Before Trump returned to office, the U.S. and the EU maintained a generally cooperative trade relationship and low tariff levels on both sides. The U.S. rate averaged 1.47% for European goods, while the EU\u2019s averaged 1.35% for American products. <\/p>\n

But the White House has taken a much less friendly posture toward the longstanding U.S. ally<\/a> since February. Along with the fluctuating tariff rate on European goods Trump has floated, the EU has been subject to his administration\u2019s 50% tariff on steel and aluminum, and a 25% tax on imported automobiles and parts. <\/p>\n

Trump administration officials have raised a slew of issues they want to see addressed, including agricultural barriers such as EU health regulations that include bans on chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-treated beef.<\/p>\n

Trump has also criticized Europe\u2019s value-added taxes, which EU countries levy at the point of sale this year at rates of 17% to 27%. But many economists see VAT as trade-neutral since they apply to domestic goods and services as well as imported ones. Because national governments set the taxes through legislation, the EU has said they aren\u2019t on the table during trade negotiations<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn the thorny issues of regulations, consumer standards and taxes, the EU and its member states cannot give much ground,\u201d Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Germany\u2019s Berenberg bank, said. \u201cThey cannot change the way they run the EU\u2019s vast internal market according to U.S. demands, which are often rooted in a faulty understanding of how the EU works.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A handles molten metal at the Thyssenkrupp steel factory in Duisburg, Germany, April 27, 2018. (AP Photo\/Martin Meissner, File)<\/p>\n

A handles molten metal at the Thyssenkrupp steel factory in Duisburg, Germany, April 27, 2018. (AP Photo\/Martin Meissner, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

\u2018Consequence for many companies\u2019<\/p>\n

Economists and companies say higher tariffs will mean higher prices for U.S. consumers on imported goods. Importers must decide how much of the extra tax costs to absorb through lower profits and how much to pass on to customers. <\/p>\n

Mercedes-Benz dealers in the U.S. have said they are holding the line on 2025 model year prices \u201cuntil further notice.\u201d The German automaker has a partial tariff shield because it makes 35% of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles sold in the U.S. in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but the company said it expects prices to undergo \u201csignificant increases\u201d in coming years. <\/p>\n

Simon Hunt, CEO of Italian wine and spirits producer Campari Group, told investment analysts that prices could increase for some products or stay the same depending what rival companies do. If competitors raise prices, the company might decide to hold its prices on Skyy vodka or Aperol aperitif to gain market share, Hunt said. <\/p>\n

Trump has argued that making it more difficult for foreign companies to sell in the U.S. is a way to stimulate a revival of American manufacturing. Many companies have dismissed the idea or said it would take years to yield positive economic benefits. However, some corporations have proved willing to shift some production<\/a> stateside. <\/p>\n

France-based luxury group LVMH, whose brands include Tiffany & Co., Luis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Moet & Chandon, could move some production to the United States, billionaire CEO Bernaud Arnault said at the company\u2019s annual meeting in April. <\/p>\n

Arnault, who attended Trump\u2019s inauguration, has urged Europe to reach a deal based on reciprocal concessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we end up with high tariffs, … we will be forced to increase our U.S.-based production to avoid tariffs,\u201d Arnault said. \u201cAnd if Europe fails to negotiate intelligently, that will be the consequence for many companies. … It will be the fault of Brussels, if it comes to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Road could be rocky\u2019<\/p>\n

Some forecasts indicate the U.S. economy would be more at risk if the negotiations fail. <\/p>\n

Without a deal, the EU would lose 0.3% of its gross domestic product and U.S. GDP would fall 0.7%, if Trump slaps imported goods from Europe with tariffs of 10% to 25%, according to a research review by Bruegel, a think tank in Brussels. <\/p>\n

Given the complexity of some of the issues, the two sides may arrive only at a framework deal before Wednesday\u2019s deadline. That would likely leave a 10% base tariff, as well as the auto, steel and aluminum tariffs in place until details of a formal trade agreement are ironed out. <\/p>\n

The most likely outcome of the trade talks is that \u201cthe U.S. will agree to deals in which it takes back its worst threats of \u2018retaliatory\u2019 tariffs well beyond 10%,\u201d Schmieding said. \u201cHowever, the road to get there could be rocky.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. offering exemptions for some goods might smooth the path to a deal. The EU could offer to ease some regulations that the White House views as trade barriers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile Trump might be able to sell such an outcome as a \u2018win\u2019 for him, the ultimate victims of his protectionism would, of course, be mostly the U.S. consumers,\u201d Schmieding said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) \u2014 The European Union expects to find out on Monday whether President Donald Trump will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[7689,51,94471,94475,32,34092,5211,2000,5215,299,5187,4179,5212,18179,3058,94472,94473,41233,13683,7686,94474,5214,1523,41234,5213,10673,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-243154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-auto-industry","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-christian-dior-se","11":"tag-consumer-products-and-services","12":"tag-donald-trump","13":"tag-economic-indicators","14":"tag-economic-policy","15":"tag-eu","16":"tag-eurocopa-2024","17":"tag-europe","18":"tag-european","19":"tag-general-news","20":"tag-government-policy","21":"tag-government-programs","22":"tag-international-trade","23":"tag-luis-vuitton","24":"tag-lvmh-mot-hennessy-louis-vuitton-se","25":"tag-metals-and-mining","26":"tag-prescription-drugs","27":"tag-scott-bessent","28":"tag-simon-hunt","29":"tag-tariffs-and-global-trade","30":"tag-taxes","31":"tag-the-boeing-co","32":"tag-united-states-government","33":"tag-washington-news","34":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}