EU tariffs removed, asymmetry remains.

The adoption, on 16 June, of the regulation removing tariffs on US products: a concerning retreat by Europe in the face of US pressure

Presented as the price to be paid for bringing an end to the tariff escalation imposed by the Trump administration, the regulation implements an unbalanced agreement: it removes most EU tariffs on US products, while European exports to the United States will remain subject to tariffs of 15% or more. Those US tariffs have, moreover, been found unlawful by the US Supreme Court.

In addition, several safeguards introduced during the parliamentary negotiations were removed from the final text, including the automatic suspension of the regulation in the event of the United States failing to honour its commitments or making threats to the territorial integrity of European States.

These choices are all the more regrettable as President Trump continues to exert pressure on, and issue threats against, European countries. On the eve of the vote, he threatened to impose 100% tariffs on French wines unless France abandoned its tax on digital giants.

More broadly, the regulation forms part of a pattern of concessions extending well beyond tariffs. The European Commission has undertaken to roll back EU rules that conflict with US interests and has already begun to do so, notably through the adoption of a series of so-called “Omnibus” directives.

Beyond the immediate trade imbalance, the agreement with the United States therefore risks setting a lasting political and legal precedent. Europe urgently needs to reassert its capacity both to defend its commercial interests and to set its own rules in the public interest, rather than allowing those rules to become bargaining chips in trade negotiations.

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