In U.S.-EU trade dispute, Trump claims Europe doesn't buy American cars or food. Is that true?

CBS News

3 days ago

The U.S. and European Union have just weeks to reach a new trade deal before President Trump plans to impose a 30% tariff on most imports from the 27 EU member countries starting Aug. 1.
The EU negotiates trade policy as a single entity and was the U.S.'s top goods trading partner in 2024, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. In 2024, the U.S. imported around $606 billion in goods from the EU and exported around $370 billion worth of products to it.
EU leaders have warned they're prepared to impose higher tariffs on hundreds of U.S. imports unless a deal can be reached in the coming weeks. Economists say the dispute could drive up consumer prices on both sides of the Atlantic.
Mr. Trump has defended tariffs as necessary to protect American workers, pointing to the trade imbalance on goods and higher EU tariffs as evidence the bloc has treated the U.S unfairly for years.
The president has also repeatedly said the European Union does not buy American cars or agricultural products. However, trade data from 2024 shows that's inaccurate. While the U.S. has imported more cars and agricultural products from Europe in recent years than it exports there, the EU remains a significant market for these American products.
Here's a breakdown of the data.
President Trump has repeatedly suggested Europe does not buy agricultural goods from U.S. farmers and producers.
"The European Union is, in many ways, nastier than China, OK?," President Trump said at an event May 12. "They sell us their agricultural products. We sell them virtually none. They don't take our products."
But according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the EU was the fourth-largest buyer of American agricultural products in 2024, purchasing a record $12.8 billion in these goods. Top exports to the EU included oilseeds like sunflower and sesame seeds, nuts and processed nut products like peanut butter, and soybeans.
By comparison, the U.S. imported $36 billion in agricultural products from the EU in 2024 — buying billions of dollars worth of European wine, animal products, and grains and feeds.
The White House has not responded to a request for clarification on the president's claim.
Before Mr. Trump raised tariffs to a baseline of 10% in April, the EU maintained a higher average tariff on foreign agricultural products than the United States. In 2023, the EU average tariff on foreign agricultural goods was 10.8%, compared to the U.S. rate of 5%.
Certain American food products are also less available in Europe because of consumer preferences and regulations, as the EU bans some American food products that contain certain additives they have deemed unsafe for human consumption.
Another frequent target of President Trump's criticism is the EU's trade imbalance on cars.
"They sell us 13 million cars. We sell them none," Mr. Trump claimed at an event in May.
It is true that the United States imports far more European vehicles than the number of American-made vehicles it exports to the EU, but the EU does buy some American cars.
In 2024, the EU imported about 165,000 American vehicles, valued at roughly $8.8 billion at current exchange rates, according to a report by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association. By comparison, the same data shows the U.S. imported about 750,000 vehicles from the EU in 2024, worth $43 billion.
Both trading partners have long imposed tariffs on foreign vehicles. The EU charges a 10% tariff on U.S. passenger cars, while the U.S. charged 2.5% on EU passenger cars until Mr. Trump raised the tariff on all foreign vehicles to 25%. The U.S. has also maintained a 25% tariff on EU pickup trucks since the 1960s.
Apart from tariffs, industry analysts say U.S. cars are less competitive in the EU market for a number of other reasons, including that the member nations tend to have higher fuel economy standards, higher gas costs, and their buyers tend to prefer smaller cars.
Though Mr. Trump often focuses on cars, they're not the biggest sector. Biological products and medication are actually the top commodities the U.S. imports from the EU, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This is driven partly by some American pharmaceutical companies maintaining manufacturing facilities in EU countries with lower corporate tax rates like Ireland.
In recent weeks, President Trump has floated tariff rates as high as 200% on foreign-made pharmaceuticals unless companies onshore manufacturing to the U.S.
On the export side, the top U.S. exports to the EU include oil and natural gas, airplanes, and immunological products like blood plasma.
Over the weekend, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the EU still hopes to reach a new agreement with the U.S.
"We have always been clear that we prefer a negotiated solution," von der Leyen said, adding, "We will continue to prepare countermeasures so we are fully prepared."Rachel Gold
contributed to this report.