The European Commission today presented two legislative proposals that pave the way for the implementation of the Joint Declaration between the European Union and the United States of 21 August 2025. These steps represent the first concrete implementation of the agreement and will ensure a reduction of US tariffs on European cars and auto parts, retroactively from 1 August 2025.
Under the proposal, US tariffs on cars and parts will be reduced to 15 per cent from the original 27.5 per cent. In just one month of exports, European carmakers will save more than half a billion euros in tariffs.
The proposal also extends duty-free treatment to lobster, including processed products, and opens preferential market access for selected US industrial products, seafood and certain non-sensitive agricultural products. In addition, zero or near-zero tariffs are envisaged for other categories, such as cork, aircraft and parts, generic pharmaceuticals, and chemical precursors, from 1 September 2025.
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union must now approve the Commission's proposals through the ordinary legislative process. Only then can the tariff reductions officially enter into force. The United States has committed to a 15 per cent cap on European cars and auto parts, and both sides have agreed to further expand the list of products with zero tariffs.
The EU-US Joint Declaration of 21 August 2025 follows the political agreement reached by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with US President Donald Trump at the end of July. Both sides thus confirm their will to continue strengthening the transatlantic partnership and to restore stability and predictability in trade and investment relations.
Transatlantic economic cooperation is a key pillar of world trade. In 2024, trade between the European Union and the United States exceeded EUR 1.6 trillion, of which EUR 867 billion was in goods and EUR 817 billion in services. Thus, more than €4.2 billion in goods and services flow across the Atlantic every day. Mutual investment is even deeper, reaching €5.3 trillion in 2022.
Reducing tariffs between the European Union and the United States is therefore seen as a crucial step that will bring direct benefits to businesses, workers and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic. For the European automotive industry, this agreement means not only significant financial savings, but also a strengthening of competitiveness in the US market.
ec.europa.eu/gnews.cz - GH
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