MEPs on Tuesday passed legislation for a three-year trade deal with the United States. But they have successfully tacked on a series of safeguard mechanisms should the Trump administration backtrack on its tariff promises.
Benjamin Fox
More than a year of often fraught negotiations with the US Trump administration came to a close on Tuesday (16 June) when MEPs backed a trade pact that will cut import duties on US goods in exchange for a 15-percent tariff ceiling.
In Strasbourg, MEPs voted by a hefty 440 to 151 margin to approve a law that eliminates tariffs on all US industrial goods, but which also features a series of safety clauses to protect EU firms.
Bernd Lange, the German social democrat who chairs the parliament’s international trade committee, and who has led the parliament’s negotiating team on the US trade file, said the result was a “big democratic majority” and “an important step to having a safety net” – though he also described the deal itself as “unbalanced and unfair”.
The US is widely thought to have got the better of an agreement that imposes 15-percent tariffs on almost all EU exports in exchange for the bloc scrapping most tariffs on US imports.
Our incredible and resilient transatlantic relationship is the largest trade and investment partnership in the history of the world. But prosperity doesn’t happen by accident. It requires action, collaboration, and pragmatic solutions that work for us together. Today,…
— Ambassador Andrew Puzder (@USAmbEU) June 16, 2026
At the heart of the tariff dispute has been president Donald Trump’s wish to reduce the US’s trade deficit with China and the EU as part of his ‘America First’ agenda.
And last year, Trump repeatedly threatened to impose 25-percent duties (or higher) on EU-made cars and other industrial goods. With Trump unwilling to budge, the EU Commission caved in, with commission president Ursula von der Leyen signing off on the agreement at Trump’s Turnberry golf club in west Scotland.
The deal has been broadly welcomed by EU industry groups who pointed to the need for market stability.
“We are pleased this deal helps prevent a tariff war and should give consumers a bit more price stability at a time of high living costs,” said Agustín Reyna, director general of BEUC, the pan-EU consumer group.
Lange conceded that the trade deal was “built under pressure” and told reporters that MEPs had insisted on a series of safety measures to protect European businesses should Trump change his mind again and impose new tariffs.
That includes a July 2029 sunset clause after which the deal will terminate and provisions for the EU to impose its own tariffs on US products if Washington backslides on the deal. And he was clear that the deal was only a temporary solution.
“It makes no sense to have legislation that is based on an unfair deal forever,” said Lange, who pointed out that Trump’s second term will conclude in January 2029 and that a new European Parliament and Commission will be elected following EU-wide polls in May that year.
One of the main sticking points was on the tariffs on products such as washing machines which contain so-called derivatives of copper, steel and aluminium – which Trump has threatened to lift to 50 percent.
However, the agreement will allow the Commission to suspend tariff preferences if the US applies a tariff rate higher than 15 percent on EU steel and aluminium derivatives.
