The EU and US have reached a deal on tariffs following a meeting on Sunday between US president Donald Trump and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Brussels has accepted a US baseline tariff of 15pc on a range of EU goods.
"It's a giant deal," Trump said.
Trump said the EU will open up trade with zero tariffs and has agreed to purchase $750bn worth of US energy and to invest an additional $600bn in the US.
Speaking in Scotland alongside Trump, von der Leyen confirmed the US will impose a 15pc tariff for EU products "across the board". The deal is about "fairness rebalancing" and making trade with the US "more sustainable", von der Leyen said.
Details will have to be sorted out over the next "days and weeks", von der Leyen said. She noted a 15pc tariff set by the US is a "clear ceiling", also applicable to EU car exports.
She also pointed to zero-for-zero tariffs for aircraft, some chemicals, certain generics, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials. Further products will be added to the list benefitting from zero-for-zero tariffs, von der Leyen said.
The steel and aluminum sectors will go back to "historical" quotas with "ring-fencing" to deal with global over-capacity, von der Leyen said. "Tariffs will be cut, and a quota system will be put in place," she said, without giving final tariff rates.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump pointed to unfair conditions for selling cars and agriculture in Europe. But in announcing the deal, Trump noted that US cars would enjoy the "biggest" change in terms of access to the EU market, followed by agriculture.
Trump had threatened to impose a 30pc broad tariff on imports from the EU beginning on 1 August. The US has been charging a 10pc tariff on EU imports since 5 April.
On 24 July, the EU published a 257-page list of merged countermeasures targeting €93bn worth of US goods, including beef, biofuels, cereals, corn and specific polymers.
