US and EU clinch deal with broad 15% tariffs on EU goods to avert trade war

Straits Times

5 hours ago

TURNBERRY, Scotland - The United States struck a framework trade deal with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15 per cent US import tariff on most EU goods, but averting a spiralling battle between two allies which account for almost a third of global trade.
The announcement came after
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled for talks with US President Donald Trump at his golf course in western Scotland to push a hard-fought deal over the line.
'I think this is the biggest deal ever made,' Trump told reporters after an hour-long meeting with von der Leyen, who said the 15 per cent tariff applied 'across the board'.
'We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability,' she said.
The deal, that also includes US$600 billion (S$768 billion) of EU investments in the United States and significant EU purchases of US energy and military equipment, will indeed bring clarity for EU companies.
However, the baseline tariff of 15 per cent will be seen by many in Europe as a poor outcome compared to the initial European ambition of a zero-for-zero tariff deal, although it is better than the threatened 30 per cent rate.
The deal mirrors parts of the framework agreement the United States clinched with Japan last week.
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'We are agreeing that the tariff... for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15 per cent,' Trump said. However, the 15 per cent baseline rate would not apply to steel and aluminium, for which a 50 per cent tariff would remain in place.
Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old US trade deficits, has so far reeled in agreements with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has failed to deliver on a promise of '90 deals in 90 days.'
He has periodically railed against the European Union saying it was 'formed to screw the United States' on trade.
Arriving in Scotland, Trump said that the EU wanted 'to make a deal very badly' and said, as he met von der Leyen, that Europe had been 'very unfair to the United States'.
His main bugbear is the US merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to US Census Bureau data. The EU points to the US surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Trump also talked on Sunday about the 'hundreds of billions of dollars' that tariffs were bringing in.
On July 12, Trump threatened to apply a 30 per cent tariff on imports from the EU starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations with the major US trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal.
The EU had prepared countertariffs on 93 billion euros (S$139 billion) of US goods in the event there was no deal and Trump had pressed ahead with 30 per cent tariffs.
Some member states had also pushed for the bloc to use its most powerful trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument, to target US services in the event of a no-deal. REUTERS