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Trump
threatens to raise tariffs on EU automobiles to 25 percent
The
social media post comes amid simmering trade tensions between the EU and U.S.
on the terms of the trade agreement they reached last year.
By Daniel
Desrochers
05/01/2026
12:46 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/01/trump-tariffs-eu-automobiles-trade-00902679
President
Donald Trump on Friday said he will raise tariffs on automobiles and auto parts
from the European Union because the 27-country bloc is not living up to its end
of a trade agreement struck last summer.
“I am
pleased to announce that, based on the fact the European Union is not complying
with our fully agreed to Trade Deal, next week I will be increasing Tariffs
charged to the European Union for Cars and Trucks coming into the United
States,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The Tariff will be increased to 25%.”
The
tariffs on European automobiles and auto parts are currently set at 15 percent
as part of the Turnberry Deal, an agreement the EU and U.S. struck last July at
Trump’s resort in Scotland. The deal required the EU to lower its tariff rates
on U.S. industrial goods, purchase $750 billion worth of energy and invest $600
billion in exchange for lower tariff rates from the U.S.
Trump’s
threat comes a week after the top EU trade official, Maroš Šefčovič, traveled
to Washington to meet with Trump administration officials and came away
reassured that the deal between the two countries remained solid.
At the
time, Šefčovič said he “was reassured by Ambassador [Jamieson] Greer, by all my
interlocutors, that a deal is a deal for both sides. … And for us, the terms of
the deal and all the terms and conditions there are absolutely fundamental for
being implemented and fulfilled.”
Those
remarks came despite lingering trade tension between the two partners. The EU
has chafed at how many products are being hit with U.S. steel and aluminum
tariffs, and the U.S. has been frustrated with the plodding pace of the EU’s
implementation of their end of July deal.
While the
European parliament passed legislation in March that would lower tariffs on
U.S. goods, the bloc still has to negotiate the deal with its member capitals
and the European Commission.
“President
Trump’s behaviour is unacceptable; we in the EU, in the European Parliament,
are honouring the Scotland deal. We are currently drafting the legislation; we
have a parliamentary position and aim to finalise this in June. However, the US
has repeatedly breached the agreement, for example with over 400 products
containing steel and aluminium, which are now subject to an average tariff of
26 per cent,” Bernd Lange, a German Social Democrat and chair of the
International Trade Committee in the European Parliament, said in a statement
Friday.
“This
latest move demonstrates just how unreliable the US side is,” he continued. “We
have already witnessed these arbitrary attacks from the US in the case of
Greenland; this is no way to treat close partners. Now we can only respond with
the utmost clarity and firmness, drawing on the strength of our position.”
The U.S.
tariffs on EU automobiles and auto parts were issued under Section 232, which
focuses on specific industries. That power was not affected by the February
Supreme Court ruling overturning some of Trump’s tariffs, which gives the
administration broad flexibility to quickly ratchet up the duties on the
sector.
Those
auto tariffs played a significant role in driving the EU to the bargaining
table last summer, putting pressure on Germany’s signature automobile industry,
including major brands like Volkswagen, BMW and Audi.
Koen
Verhelst contributed to this article.
