The president of the United States, Donald Trump, accused the European Union this Friday of failing to comply with the bilateral trade agreement they maintain and announced that, in retaliation, next week he will raise tariffs on cars and trucks to 25%. Under the deal, the EU had agreed to eliminate tariffs on American industrial products in exchange for a 15% tariff cap on most EU products.
Now, “since the European Union is not complying with the trade agreement,” Trump has announced that next week he will increase “the tariffs charged to the European Union on cars and trucks entering the United States,” Trump has announced on his Truth Social platform.
“The tariff will increase to 25%,” the president confirmed before assuring that these tariffs will not be applied if the vehicles end up being manufactured in American plants, particularly those that are in the process of construction.
“Numerous car and truck plants are currently being built, with an investment of more than $100 billion, a record figure in the history of car and truck manufacturing. These plants, with American personnel, will open soon,” the US president concluded.
It is not clear under what authority Trump will raise tariffs on the EU, after the Supreme Court in February invalidated much of what he had already set, thereby dismantling the tariff scheme used in his trade war against US partners.
Following this setback, the US president imposed a new temporary global tariff of 10% under a new legal framework, which theoretically should be extended by Congress in July. In mid-2025, both sides reached an agreement whereby the EU accepted a 15% tariff on most European products in exchange for the US exporting most of its products at 0%.
The trade pact is still pending ratification by Brussels, after the European Parliament has requested a series of safeguards that allow its implementation to be suspended if Trump threatens new tariffs on the community bloc or puts its territorial integrity at risk, as happened in January during the diplomatic crisis over control of the island of Greenland, under Danish sovereignty.
