US surtaxes: Will the EU receive a 30% import rate?
Last week, Brussels thought it was close to a relatively balanced agreement with Washington on import tariffs. It was not to mention a new twist, as brutal as it was unexpected. On 12 July 2025, Donald Trump announced the introduction of a 30% surcharge on all goods from the EU from 1 August.
While he had just granted a respite in Brussels by displacing punitive surcharges on 1 August and a 10% rate was expected for European products imported into the United States (cf. US customs duties: a new respite granted to the EU until 1 August 2025), the US President announced on Saturday 12 July that goods imported from the EU would be subject to a surcharge of 30% as from 1 July.and August.
For several months, the European Commission had been negotiating with the US Trade Representative to reach an agreement acceptable to both parties. After Donald Trump's announcement, deemed unacceptable by the Twenty-Seven, the copy could be reviewed and corrected, even if negotiation remains the priority until August 1. A series of commercial retaliations worth €72 billion for US goods would be under preparation on the European side. And if Brussels really implements these retaliatory measures, the additional US customs duties will increase unconditionally (and a minimum!) by 30%, resulting in a final invoice of between 60 and 110% depending on the products.
For the time being, these are just announcements, no official regulatory publication has been published, but we should know more by 1 January.and August and you will keep informed.
It should be noted that the rate of additional surcharges for European imports to the United States is currently 10%, with the exception of cars (25%) and steel and aluminium (50%).
With regard to steel and aluminium, clarification that, since 3 June, the additional duty of 50 % applies to the steel and aluminium content of the articles classified in Chapters 73 and 76 of the US Customs Tariff and no longer to their full value as before. The non-steel, non-aluminium content of the articles is subject to reciprocal duties (i.e. 10%), which can make the calculation of duties and taxes particularly difficult! Furthermore, since 28 June 2025, if the importer does not know the country of merger or casting of aluminium products covered by Section 232, he must declare « UN » (for « unknown ») in the ISO country code cell. In this case, the products will automatically be considered as originating in Russia and the surcharge 200 per cent will be implemented. Since complete traceability of metals, from ore to final product, is now virtually impossible, this measure is mainly aimed at putting pressure on Russia and has collateral effects on importers. This precise example reveals the increasingly punitive nature of current US trade policy, where geopolitical objectives now seem to take precedence over economic and logistical reality.
So it remains to be seen what American sauce will be eaten in the EU on 1 August and what answer it will bring. Brazil, for its part, threatened with 50% import surcharges, has just responded on 14 July by signing a decree implementing its « reciprocity law » adopted in April at the announcement of the first surcharges by the US President. It allows Brazil to suspend trade concessions, investments and intellectual property protections in response to unilateral measures by countries or economic blocs affecting its international competitiveness.
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