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EU strikes deal on US trade pact ahead of Trump tariff deadline

The EU reached a provisional agreement to remove import duties on US goods, keeping the bloc on track to meet Trump's deadline to avoid higher tariffs on European exports. The European Union reached a late-night provisional deal on Tuesday to remove import duties on US goods, a key part of the bloc's trade pact with the United States. This kept the EU on track to meet President Donald Trump's July 4 deadline and avoid higher US tariffs on European goods. "I am proud to announce that Europe has avoided a ‌damaging escalation of transatlantic trade tensions and protected European companies, investments and millions of jobs on ‌both sides ​of the Atlantic," Zeljana Zovko, the lead trade negotiator in the European People’s Party group on the US deal, posted on X. "I welcome the agreement reached by the European Parliament and the Council on reducing tariffs for US industrial exports to the EU. This means we ‌will soon deliver on our part of the EU-US Joint Statement, as promised," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen psoted on X. "Together, we can ensure stable, predictable, balanced, and mutually beneficial transatlantic trade."  German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said an agreement showed the bloc was "delivering on its commitments." In a post on X, Merz said the deal meant "more security and stability for our businesses." The US-EU trade deal was agreed upon in July last year , after months of tariff uncertainty. Here are some of the most important things to know about it: EU lawmakers softened several demands during negotiations, including a proposal to suspend favorable tariffs for US exporters if Washington breached the terms of the deal. The final text also gives the US until the end of the year to remove steel surtaxes above 15%, instead of making it a precondition for the agreement. Lawmakers of the bloc had also pushed for stronger so-called "sunrise" and "sunset" clauses under which the EU would only cut duties when the ⁠US fulfilled its side of the deal and to end EU tariff concessions on March 31, 2028. The sunrise clause was removed altogether, while the sunset was pushed back to the end of 2029, lawmakers said. "There is a suspension mechanism if the US does not abide by the deal, a monitoring mechanism for the impact on our economy, provisions for unjustified tariffs on certain products, an expiry date for the legislation, and strong involvement of the European Parliament," Bernd Lange, the head of Parliament's trade committee, said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Rana Taha