The European Union has reached a provisional agreement on the implementation of a trade deal with the US.
According to the European bureau of Report, the document was agreed during overnight negotiations between representatives of the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission.
This sets in motion the implementation of the agreements reached in the summer of 2025 at a meeting between US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry (Scotland).
The EU thus hopes to prevent the tightening of trade restrictions and the imposition of new tariffs on European imports, which Trump had threatened should there be further delays in the agreement coming into force.
Under the agreement, the EU will remove remaining tariffs on US industrial goods and grant preferential market access for certain US agricultural and seafood products. For its part, Washington undertakes to keep tariffs on the bulk of European exports within 15%.
At the same time, Brussels has also provided for safeguard mechanisms. The European Commission will be able to suspend the agreement in part or in full if the US fails to reduce tariffs on European steel and aluminium by the end of 2026, which currently stand at 50%.
The document also includes a so-called ‘sunset clause’: the agreement will automatically expire at the end of 2029 unless the parties decide to extend it.
