Trump announces EU trade deal with 15-percent tariff on imports
By Brett Rowland
The Center Square
President Donald Trump announced a trade deal with the European Union on Sunday that will require imports from the 27-nation bloc to face a 15-percent tariff.
Trump had previously threatened tariffs of 30% on European goods. Trump announced the the deal after a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
"It's a good deal for everybody," Trump told reporters after the meeting at his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland.
Trump has been on a roll recently, announcing deals with Indonesia (19 tariff on imports), the Philippines (19% tariff on imports) and Japan (15% tariff on imports) earlier this week.
Trump said the EU will buy $750 billion in energy from the U.S. and agreed to invest $600 billion in the U.S.
"We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world. It's a big deal, it’s a huge deal, it will bring stability, it will be predictability," von der Leyen said. "It's a good deal, it's a tough deal."
It's the biggest deal Trump has reached so far.
U.S. total goods trade with the European Union were an estimated $975.9 billion in 2024. U.S. goods exports to the European Union in 2024 were $370.2 billion. U.S goods imports from the European Union totaled $605.8 billion in 2024. The U.S. goods trade deficit with the European Union was $235.6 billion in 2024, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
By comparison, U.S. trade goods with Japan totaled an estimated $227.9 billion in 2024.
Trump has been working to reorder global trade through tariffs to give U.S. companies an advantage at home.
Economists, businesses and some publicly traded companies have warned that tariffs could raise prices on a wide range of consumer products.
Trump has said he wants to use tariffs to restore manufacturing jobs lost to lower-wage countries in decades past, shift the tax burden away from U.S. families and pay down the national debt.
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