{"id":454085,"date":"2026-05-20T10:34:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T08:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/05\/20\/ue-usa-parlamento-e-consiglio-trovano-lintesa-sui-dazi-che-attua-la-dichiarazione-congiunta\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T11:41:01","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T09:41:01","slug":"eu-us-trade-parliament-and-council-reach-agreement-on-tariffs-that-implement-the-joint-declaration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/20\/eu-us-trade-parliament-and-council-reach-agreement-on-tariffs-that-implement-the-joint-declaration\/","title":{"rendered":"EU\u2013US trade: Parliament and Council reach agreement on tariffs that implement the joint declaration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The European Union and the United States have finally reached a definitive agreement on tariffs \u2014 assuming US President Donald Trump doesn\u2019t change his mind. The European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached the interinstitutional agreement<\/strong> needed to implement the joint statement agreed on 21 August 2025<\/a>. Bernd Lange<\/strong> (S&D), Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade<\/a> and rapporteur for the dossier, is delighted: \u201cThis agreement is an important step towards greater predictability in transatlantic trade relations<\/strong>,\u201d he said at the conclusion of negotiations that wrapped up overnight. But that\u2019s not all. “This regulation becomes part of the EU\u2019s toolkit to improve EU-US relations but also responds to pressure.”<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Indeed, the pressure. Trump <\/a>had urged the EU to reach a deal by 4 July <\/a>or risk tariffs above the agreed 15 per cent. The White House occupant\u2019s interventions were unwelcome and poorly received. The comments by Michael Damianos<\/strong>, Minister for Commerce and Industry of Cyprus, the country currently holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, are no coincidence: “Today, the European Union is honouring its commitments. We are and will remain a reliable<\/strong> and trustworthy partner in global trade.”<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The tariff agreement: two regulations, two deadlines<\/h4>\n

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The EU-US tariff agreement at the heart of the deal between the European Parliament and the Council of the EU concerns two separate measures: a first regulation, the main one, removes the remaining customs duties on US industrial goods and grants preferential access to the European market, including through tariff quotas and reduced tariffs for certain non-sensitive agricultural products and seafood \u2018made in the USA\u2019; a second regulation, on the other hand, focuses on extending the suspension of tariffs on imports of lobster, both in its natural state and as a processed product.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/03\/12\/new-us-trade-investigations-brussels-warns-we-will-respond-to-any-violation-of-the-tariff-agreement\/<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Under the specific “sunset clause,” the main regulation on industrial and agri-food imports will expire on 31 December 2029<\/strong>. Before that date, the European Commission will conduct a comprehensive assessment of its trade effects on EU industry, agriculture, and small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as on trade patterns with third countries. The Commission may submit a legislative proposal to extend the regulation’s duration.\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 As regards the second proposal on lobsters, Parliament and the Council have reached an agreement on Parliament\u2019s proposal to extend the zero-duty import of lobsters for five years, until 31 July 2030. <\/strong>This extension will apply retroactively from 1 August 2025.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

European safeguard mechanism and suspension clause<\/h4>\n
The inter-institutional agreement implementing the EU-US tariff agreement does not merely contain an expiry date; there is also a dedicated safeguard mechanism <\/strong>that gives the EU the tools to address possible significant increases in imports from the United States that cause or threaten to cause serious injury to domestic producers, both in the EU industry and in the European agricultural sector. The European Commission may therefore launch an investigation on its own initiative or on the basis of information provided by one or more Member States or by the European Parliament. The Commission will also report to the Parliament and the Council on a quarterly basis on changes in the volumes and values of trade in US exports of goods covered by this legislation. Where there is sufficient evidence, the Commission may decide to suspend the application of the regulation in whole or in part<\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n
Under the safeguard mechanism, the EU Commission may also suspend the tariff preferences granted to the United States should the US fail to address the European Union\u2019s concerns regarding the tariff treatment of EU exports, which, until 24 February 2026, benefited from the all-inclusive tariff ceiling of 15 per cent. <\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The steel and aluminium dispute, and the EU\u2019s response<\/h4>\n
The agreement between the Council and the Parliament on the tariff regime with the United States also covers steel and aluminium. In August last year, the United States added 407 product categories to the list of steel and aluminium products subject to tariffs. The Parliament considered that these new tariffs increased trade instability and urged that the issue be addressed in the main regulation. According to the agreement, the Commission may suspend tariff preferences if, by 31 December 2026, the United States continues to apply tariffs above 15 per cent on EU steel and aluminium products.<\/strong> Furthermore, the European Commission will submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council by 1 December 2026 on the tariff treatment of steel and aluminium products.\u200b<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
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Bernd Lange [phooto: Alain ROLLAND. Copyright: \u00a9 European Union 2026 – Source : EP]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
“With the introduction of the sunset clause and a strong suspension clause, Parliament has substantially improved the Commission proposal,<\/strong>” said Bernd Lange, who is convinced that “A stable transatlantic partnership can only succeed if both sides remain committed to reliability, restraint and mutual trust.\u201c<\/strong> Another message for Trump, who can rest easy: by 4 July, the provisional agreement will be finalised because the Committee on International Trade has already convened an extraordinary meeting for 2 June at 9 am to vote on the agreement, so that the House can vote on it during the 15\u201318 June plenary session<\/span><\/span><\/span>. At that point, the Council will be able to approve it in turn and make it law.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

The EU does not trust Trump<\/h4>\n

“We need safety nets with the United States, because there is currently a great deal of unpredictability in our relations with the US<\/strong>,” Lange said during the press conference called to present the details of the agreement. The chair of the European Parliament\u2019s Committee on International Trade confirms that the EU does not trust the US administration and its president, who is \u201ctotally unpredictable.\u201d
 So much so that Lange continues, \u201cwe need clear suspension clauses in the event of a breach of the Scotland agreements<\/a><\/strong>\u201d by the US.<\/p>\n

Lange also has something else to say, and it concerns significant differences with the other side of the Atlantic: today, Europe is more democratic than the United States. “We have done our work in a democratic manner, rather than having a single person make all the decisions.”<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following the inter-institutional agreement, a plenary vote is scheduled for mid-June. Lange (S&D): \u201cAn important step towards greater predictability.\u201d Deal includes safeguard clauses with suspension mechanisms. Message to Trump: \u201cWe honour our commitments; we are reliable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":454071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[29880,26279,26598,27072,26413,25755],"class_list":["post-454085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bernd-lange-en","tag-trade-en","tag-dazi-en","tag-council-ue-en","tag-ue-stati-uniti-en","tag-news-parliament-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":454086,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454085\/revisions\/454086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}