European Institutions Formalize the EU-US Trade Deal

The European Union has published two regulations that eliminate or reduce customs duties for a wide range of goods originating in the United States. These regulations are part of a broader effort to stabilize and rebalance EU–US trade relations after a period of heightened tariff tensions. These regulations are enacting the EU tariff commitments of the EU-US Trade Deal of last summer.

The first regulation is applicable to all goods apart from lobsters and is applicable from 1 July 2026 through 31 December 2029. The second regulation is applicable to lobsters only and is retroactively applicable as of 1 August 2025 through 31 July 2030. Both regulations can be extended.

This overview summarizes the key elements of the first regulation:

• Preferential duty access – Customs duties are set to 0% for almost all US industrial products, and are reduced or removed for certain non-sensitive agricultural and food products;
• Origin requirements for preferential treatment – To benefit from tariff preferences, eligible products must originate in the US according to the EU non-preferential origin rules and must be transported directly from the US to the EU;
• Safeguard and suspension measures – The Commission may suspend the tariff preferences in case the interests of EU business are injured and may suspend the tariff preferences in case the United States does not honor its commitments.

Importers and (in)direct customs representatives should reach out to their US customers as soon as possible to ensure that they have all underlying evidence available that the goods originate in the US and that the goods are directly shipped from the US to the EU before claiming any tariff preferences.

We are happy to assist clients to ensure that they can fully benefit from the tariff preferences in a customs compliant manner.