European Union lawmakers reached a tentative deal on Wednesday to scrap import tariffs on all U.S. industrial goods and give some U.S. agriculture and seafood products easier access to the bloc's market, the European Parliament said in a May 20 press release.
The Parliament and the Council of the European Union moved to write into EU law a framework trade accord reached with the U.S. in August 2025. Simultaneously, they empowered the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, to suspend some or all of the new tariff breaks if Washington D.C. allows duties on European steel and aluminum derivative products to climb above the agreed 15% ceiling.
"We need a safety net in the relation with the United States, because at the moment it's totally unsecure and not predictable how the United States are acting in the field of tariffs," Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee, said at a press conference. "Therefore, we, as European Parliament, made a clear statement with 417 votes for such a safety net."
The co-legislators agreed that the Commission could suspend tariff preferences awarded to the U.S. if, by Dec. 31, 2026, the country continues to apply a tariff higher than the agreed-upon rate for EU steel and aluminum derivatives. The Commission must report to Parliament and the Council by Dec. 1.
The favorable treatment of U.S. farm and seafood products will expire on Dec. 31, 2029, under a "sunset clause," per the release. Before that date, the Commission must perform a comprehensive assessment of the regulation's trade effects on EU industry, agriculture and small- and medium-sized enterprises, as well as changes in trade patterns with third countries. Based on these findings, the Commission may propose legislation to extend the regulation.
The legislative bodies also agreed to extend tariff-free U.S. lobster imports until July 31, 2030, and extend the same treatment to processed lobster products. This will apply retroactively from August 1, 2025.
Next steps
A Parliament trade committee will likely vote on the deal on June 2, followed by a full Parliament vote between June 15 and June 18, and then final approval by EU governments. The law will take effect the day after it is published.
"By setting the commitments under the joint statement into law, this regulation becomes part of the EU’s toolkit to improve EU-US relations but also responds to pressure," Lange said in the release. "This agreement is an important step towards greater predictability in transatlantic trade relations."
Last August, the U.S. and the EU formalized the terms of a framework agreement reached the previous month. The pact included a U.S. commitment to apply either a 15% tariff or the most favored nation duty rate on EU imports, with the higher of the two to be enforced.
Meanwhile, the EU planned to eliminate tariffs on U.S. industrial products and offer preferential market access to a range of U.S. food exports, including tree nuts, fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, pork and bison meat, and dairy products.
Since then, U.S. President Donald Trump has set a July 4 deadline for the EU to ratify the agreement, warning in a Truth Social post that he will immediately raise levies to "much higher levels."
