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Trump, EU Trade Agree on 15% Rate on Autos

[ October 16, 2025   //   Gary Burrows ]

President Donald Trump formally implemented its U.S. trade agreement with the European Union on Sept. 24, confirming that a 15 percent duty rate for EU autos and auto parts began on Aug. 1 and listing tariff exemptions for generic pharmaceuticals, aircraft and aircraft parts.

The Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said they amended the tariff schedule to implement the framework agreement reached with the EU in July that lowers the president’s tariffs to 15 percent on most imports from the EU, including autos, Reuters reported.

The deal modified the duty rate retroactive to Aug. 1. Trump since his inauguration has built up massive tariff increases, which he claimed would reorder the global trading system, cut U.S. trade deficits and extract concessions from trading partner countries in negotiations.

European automakers waited weeks for the formal U.S. notice. The U.S. notice also specifies hundreds of products from the EU that are exempt from Trump’s new tariffs, including natural resources such as cork lacking in the U.S., all aircraft and aircraft parts, and generic pharmaceuticals and their ingredients and chemical precursors.

The notice is in line with a previous Trump executive order Sept. 5 that offered certain exemptions from his “reciprocal” tariffs and so-called Section 232 national security duties to countries that negotiate trade deals with the U.S.

Among items that would be exempted for EU exporters are graphite, nickel, rare earths, magnesium and certain other metals, as well as hundreds of electronic and mechanical components that are used in aircraft production.

A second Trump executive order on Sept. 5 identified more than 45 categories for zero import tariffs from “aligned partners” who clinch framework pacts to cut Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs and duties imposed under the Section 232 national security statute.

Trump’s order also brings U.S. tariffs in line with its commitments in existing framework deals, including those with allies such as Japan and the European Union.