U.S.-EU trade deal includes 15% tariff on most EU goods

The European Union developed a trade framework with the United States, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday. The United States will levy a 15% tariff rate on most EU exports, including cars, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals, she said.

Meanwhile, the EU will lower tariffs to zero, U.S. President Donald Trump said in a video posted on Sunday. The EU will also buy a collective $750 billion in American energy, he said. The EU plans to replace its Russian oil and gas purchases with a large amount of American natural gas, oil, and nuclear fuels, von der Leyen said.

The agreement also includes zero-for-zero tariffs on products including aircraft parts, specific semiconductor parts, raw materials, agricultural products, and some chemicals and generic medications. Both the United States and the EU would add more products to the tariff-free list, von der Leyen said.

The EU will also invest an additional $600 billion into the U.S. economy, including purchasing American artificial intelligence chips. The group of nations will also purchase a substantial amount of U.S. military equipment, Trump said. It was unclear whether the planned military equipment sales included those recently announced by European members of NATO.

Is the deal officially approved? Von der Leyen and the European Commission handle trade negotiations for EU member states, but the trade framework must go to those nations for approval before it’s implemented.

What else is still under discussion? The United States and EU still need to develop plans for their steel and aluminum industries, von der Leyen said on Friday. Both industries face the challenge of global overcapacity, she said. She said tariffs would be reduced and a quota system would be put in place, though it wasn’t clear if she meant both the United States and the EU would make those changes.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report on Trump’s recent executive orders on college athlete rights and homelessness.